Cry of the Falcon
by Solid Shark
Summary: Two years since the fall of GENESIS and the end of the Bloody Valentine War, Ken DiFalco, Kira Yamato, and the other soldiers who fought there are drawn back into an even greater conflict... Sequel to Birds of a Feather. Warning: contains Destiny spoilers
1. Chapter 1: Second Gig

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-she

* * *

Section Nine. A shadowy organization that emerged from the chaos of the Bloody Valentine War, its existence became known to the public at the signing of the Junius Treaty on March 10th, C.E. 72, when its formation was revealed to be part of the Treaty's postwar provisions.

To the world at large, Section Nine was considered a counterterrorist organization, with its initial goal being the prevention of attacks by any radical factions from either side still opposed to the peace treaty; only those in the upper echelons of national governments read beyond that, to find its primary purpose: as a third party paramilitary organization, funded by both Orb and the PLANT colonies, intended as a failsafe against another war of the apocalyptic proportions the Bloody Valentine War reached.

As the mysterious True ZAFT faction before it, Section Nine would fight either side if it had to, in order to preserve the peace so many people had spent their lives to achieve.

The unit consisted of hand-picked soldiers and former police investigators, their identities largely unknown, all led by a mysterious man who wore an ancient, World War II-vintage German-issue gasmask, using it to protect his identity... and, some said, provide an additional safety measure against assassination.

He was known only as "The Major".

Born to take True ZAFT's place, only a handful of people knew that its core membership was, in fact, the remnants of True ZAFT... led by the three surviving members of the elite DiFalco Team.

The Gray Demons of the Grimaldi Front... and their leader, Kenneth "Grimaldi Falcon" DiFalco, known to some as a hero, for his desertion from ZAFT and subsequent destruction of his own creation, the gamma ray cannon known as GENESIS.

Known to others as a traitor for the very same reason.

It was, therefore, no wonder to those in the know that Ken DiFalco vanished after the war... and that, as the Major, he kept his true name and face a closely-guarded secret.

Two years and six days had now passed since the end of the Bloody Valentine War. In that time, Section Nine quietly built up its strength, deployed on several small-scale antiterrorist operations, and continued to prepare for a conflict the Major considered inevitable. A student of history, he did not believe in the "War to End All Wars". In the name of that preparation, one strike he authorized was against a unit of the Earth Alliance which did not officially exist; and this time, plausible deniability proved a liability for the Earth Alliance. The Atlantic Federation protested Section Nine's "high-handed actions" in "launching a strike of dubious intelligence within Atlantic Federation territory without prior notification and consent", but Chairman Gilbert Durandal of the PLANT Supreme Council regretfully informed them that he had no jurisdiction over the matter.

The Earth Alliance, unwilling to risk a renewed conflict at this point, grumbled, but let the matter slide, despite the rumored theft of a top-secret mobile suit prototype. After all, the unit it belonged to didn't exist...

Also in the name of preparation, however, Ken DiFalco authorized an action that made even him uneasy... and led those closest to him -including his fiancé- to openly question his grip on reality.

So things stood on October 3rd, C.E. 73... the day everything began again.

* * *

Lagrange Point Four, Armory One, Harbor, October 3rd, C.E. 73

* * *

Two individuals stepped off a small, slate-gray shuttle at Armory One's main dock. Both wore slate-gray combat jumpsuits, with sidearms and other equipment on their belts, and long, narrow cases slung over their backs. One was a young man with iron-gray hair; the other a woman slightly younger than he, with emerald hair. Neither of them bore any insignia, save for a crossed-katana patch on their left shoulders.

"We've arrived at Armory One," the man murmured into a throat mic, as they approached the guard post leading to Armory One's interior. "On schedule, Control."

_ "Copy that,"_ a calm, cultured voice on the other end replied. _"Any sign of... untoward activity, Tom?"_

Thomas Delaney rolled his eyes, and his companion snorted. "Give us a break, Control, we just got here. We didn't see anything on the way in, no, but we haven't even gotten inside the base facilities yet. Tell Möbius One we'll report when we've got something to report."

_ "Of course,"_ Control replied smoothly. _"Sorry, Leanne; I must admit, I'm not exactly used to this job yet. Bear with me."_

"Yeah, sure," Leanne Eldridge said under her breath.

"Cut the chatter," Tom murmured. "Time to make our entrance."

As expected, the ZAFT green coat at the guard post motioned for them to stop, taking careful note of their obvious armament. "Excuse me," he said, politely but firmly, "but this colony is a restricted facility; only those with proper security clearance are permitted entry. And unless you can give me a good explanation for those weapons..."

Tom cleared his throat, delving into a belt pouch for an ID card. "Section Nine, soldier," he said simply.

The green coat took one look at the ID, darted a glance at their shoulder patches, and nodded quickly. "Of course, Sir. You're cleared to enter."

The gray-haired operative, who had himself been a ZAFT soldier only two years before, smiled, and tucked away his ID. "Thank you, trooper."

The reaction the green coat had displayed wasn't exactly a surprise. In the two years since the war, it had been made clear to ZAFT soldiers -and drilled rather firmly into the heads of new recruits- that members of Section Nine had access where they wanted, when they wanted. For some reason The Powers That Were had decided Section Nine served a very important purpose, and thus were not to be hindered. The usual assumption among ZAFT grunts, on the infrequent occasions when the gray-clad operatives turned up, was that a counterterrorism op was either being planned or considered, based on intelligence the operatives were to gather in their visit.

So far, that assumption had proven correct.

"So, ah," the green coat began boldly, "are you expecting any trouble, Sir?"

"That's Commander Delaney," Tom replied, solving the ZAFT soldier's problem of what to call him, "and no, not really. This _is_ ZAFT's newest weapons development base, with all the security that implies. However, tomorrow is also the day you're supposed to be rolling out the _Minerva_ and the new mobile suits, right? Add that to the Chairman himself visiting, along with the Chief Representative of Orb, and..."

"The Major thought we should check things out," Leanne finished, "just to be sure. You don't take chances with all those factors involved."

"Ah... good point," the green coat acknowledged, stepping aside. "Well, good luck, Sir, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Trooper," Tom said politely, and stepped past, Leanne close behind.

"Does the way regular ZAFT looks at us still feel as weird to you as it does to me?" Leanne whispered, once they stepped out into the colony proper.

"Oh, yeah," Tom told her. "If I'd known it was going to be like this back when the Major said he 'had a job for us' two years ago, I'd..."

"You'd have done it anyway," she said quietly. "Because we owe him our loyalty, till death and beyond."

"Yeah," he conceded, "I would have. But like you said, it's still weird." He lowered his voice. "All right, Control, we're inside the colony. Mind telling me exactly where we're supposed to go from here? There's so many hangars and warehouses in this place..."

_ "The new mobile suits are supposedly being kept at Mobile Suit Hangar Six,"_ Control answered. _"Möbius One says to start there; and Captain Chance wishes me to reassure you that _Odin_ will be waiting for you if the situation does deteriorate."_

Tom shook his head. "Well, _that's_ comforting... or it would be, except that _Odin_'s out there, and we're in here. This had better be a false alarm..." He sighed. "All right, Control, we're heading in. We'll make contact again once we're at the objective."

_ "Understood. Control, out."  
_

* * *

Lagrange Point 4, Orb Shuttle, Approaching Armory One

* * *

Within the passenger compartment of an Orb shuttle, Kira Yamato stretched as much as the seat restraints would allow. It had been a long time since he spent much time strapped into a seat in zero gravity for extended periods, and he still wasn't quite used to it again.

"Looks like we're almost there," he said to his companion, the person he was also guarding... among other things. "Long flight, huh?"

"Yeah," Cagalli Yula Athha agreed. "But we don't have much choice. You know as well as I do what we're up here for; what Chairman Durandal is doing is tantamount to violating the Junius Treaty. Ken's people _confirmed_ what he's up to, remember?"

"Actually, he said that his people had strong indications that he was, and that he was sending a team to check things out," Kira corrected. "He also said that even if the Chairman _is_ doing that, it doesn't technically violate the provisions of the treaty. A loophole, apparently."

"Apparently," she said dryly. She did have to concede, though, that if anyone knew whether or not ZAFT's actions were a treaty violation, it was her old friend and partner. Though it wasn't well known, even among the various politicians, he'd actually played a small but important role in drafting the treaty in the first place. "Still... Hey, do you see that?"

"See what?" Kira twisted his head around to look out the viewport on her side, and his eyebrows went up. "Yeah, it is. I wonder what the _Odin_'s doing out here... unless she's supporting the fact-finding mission he talked about?"

"Probably." Cagalli shook her head. "I still can't figure him out sometimes... Chairwoman Canaver made a good choice two years ago. Still, I wonder sometimes how Murrue puts up with it."

"Excuse me, My Lady," the shuttle pilot called over the intercom, "but we'll be docking shortly. I suggest you and Mr. Yamato prepare to debark."

"We'll be ready," Kira answered. "Thanks."

"At least he's not one of the hero-worshiping ones," Cagalli said, smiling. "Right?"

He shuddered; and the reaction was only partly feigned. "Yeah, that's for sure." Being a well-known war hero had its drawbacks; he got more publicity than he'd have preferred, and too many of Orb's soldiers regarded him with something approaching -or even exceeding- awe. Sometimes he really did envy his friends Athrun Zala and Lacus Clyne, and how they'd quietly retired from public view, living with Reverend Malchio and his orphans. _Sometimes,_ he admitted to himself, _I even envy Ken. He might be busier than Athrun, and in a more dangerous job, but at least _nobody_ knows who he is..._

Cagalli looked at him shrewdly. "Regretting taking the job?" she asked, almost coyly.

Kira shook his head. "Of course not; there's no way I'd let anything happen to you, or let anyone keep us apart. Still... I could wish to be a little less famous sometimes."

She nodded in understanding. "I know what you mean. Sometimes it seems like you get it even worse than _I_ do, and I'm the noble, not you. Still... I'm glad you're here, Kira."

"Me, too." _And glad that this shouldn't be anything more than a quick meeting,_ Kira added to himself. _Places like this just haven't felt the same to me since Morgenroete was attacked, and the G-weapons were stolen..._ Still, that event had had its benefits; without it, Ken DiFalco would've remained out of the war, leaving things to his trusted subordinates, while the crew of the _Archangel_ would've remained with the Earth Forces to the bitter end...

And one Kira Yamato would never have met one Cagalli Yula Athha.

* * *

Lagrange Point 4, _Girty Lue,_ Bridge

* * *

In a location Kira would've considered far too close for comfort, yet shielded from view by Mirage Colloid, a ship drifted silently, observing Armory One. Her name was _Girty Lue;_ and on her Bridge sat a man in a charcoal-gray Earth Forces uniform, with white gloves and a gunmetal gray mask over his face. His fingers were steepled in thought... thought about the events of the day to come, which none aboard the colony knew of.

"I take it everything is on schedule?" Captain Neo Roanoke asked.

"Yes, Sir," Lieutenant Commander Ian Lee acknowledged. "Loussier, Neider, and Oakley were inserted into the colony half an hour ago; the operation will begin in two hours."

"Excellent. This should put the top brass in a better mood; maybe it'll make up for Section Nine's Greenland raid, six months ago." Neo snorted to himself; he remembered how badly _that_ attack had shaken his superiors. It simply hadn't occurred to any of them that Section Nine's "Major" might actually be audacious enough to launch an operation within territory claimed by the Atlantic Federation.

Lee, however, found it very interesting that Neo himself had actually predicted the attack the moment the new machine -which had been stolen in the raid- was transferred there. He might have been young -though his mask made it difficult to tell, he appeared to be about twenty- he was clearly a very intelligent officer. Exactly how he'd reached his rank at such a young age, considering that the Earth Alliance wasn't nearly as... unorthodox as ZAFT, was something of a mystery, but Lee had heard Neo was supposed to be their answer to ZAFT's Grimaldi Falcon, assuming the man ever turned up again.

In the meantime, he was doing a stellar job in his current post.

Neo, who had been lost in thought, abruptly looked up. "Sensors, check the nearby space traffic. Is there anything unusual out there?"

His detection officer, though startled by the sudden query, dutifully checked his displays, and shook his head a few moments later. "Negative, Sir. Just the standard ZAFT traffic; the only thing that isn't in the schedule we intercepted is a collier about two kilometers from Armory One. IFF identifies her as _Cornelius_-class."

"Probably one they captured during the War," Lee offered. It was plausible enough; the _Cornelius_-class had been intended to act as supply ships for the _Archangel_-class, but the first ship had been left derelict by the destruction of Heliopolis, and eventually commandeered by the Junk Guild. Eventually, though, more had been built to service other ships, and some had been "lost to causes unknown" during the War.

Still... something about it didn't seem right to Neo. _There's no reason for a _Cornelius_ to be here,_ he thought, frowning behind his mask. _Certainly not just hanging out there... Wait. Wasn't there another ship developed at the same time as _Archangel_ and the _Cornelius_ prototype? Yes... the escort ship..._

"She's not a _Cornelius,"_ he announced. "Get me a visual. They're using a false IFF transponder, and probably altering their emissions profile to simulate one, but that isn't what's actually out there."

"Sir?" The detection officer was puzzled, but he carried out his instructions... and a moment later, Ian Lee whistled tunelessly.

"You're right, Captain," he said, impressed. "That's an _Odin_-class escort ship; and she's not one of ours. I didn't know ZAFT had captured any... How did you know, Sir?"

"A hunch, Ian. First of all, ZAFT _didn't_ capture any _Odins;_ that one out there doesn't belong to them. No, the false colors trick is more Section Nine's style, which means that ship is the _Odin_ herself." Neo rubbed absently at the left side of his mask; a nervous habit Lee had noticed before, without understanding.

"But what are they doing here?" _Girty Lue_'s CO wondered. "Unless they got wind of our operation somehow..."

"It's possible," Neo pointed out. "The Major is an annoyingly shrewd individual; his attack on Greenland is proof enough of that. However, they may have other reasons to be here. With them, you never know." He thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "Never mind them for now. Continue the operation; even if they have deployed operatives to Armory One, even if their destination is the same as the Extendeds, I doubt they could affect the operation any. They're not trained to deal with our people."

"What if _Odin_ tries to intervene after the fact?" Lee questioned. "Her firepower may not be as great as some ships, but she _does_ have a positron cannon, and presumably a small complement of mobile suits."

"Let me worry about the mobile suits, Ian; my Exus should be enough to deal with whatever suits they may have crammed aboard. And if it isn't, the Extendeds will be able to mop up after the operation. As for the ship herself, I wouldn't worry too much. We have Mirage Colloid, and more Gottfrieds than they have energy weapons." Neo shook his head. "No, forget about Section Nine for the time being; they're of no consequence."

* * *

Armory One, Base Exterior

* * *

"I wonder what a base like this would've looked like during the War," violet-haired ZAFT redcoat Lunamaria Hawke mused, as her car drove across the main landing field within Armory One.

"Probably a lot busier," Vino Dupre, mechanic and -currently- driver opined. "Especially near the end, when the Earth Forces were closing in and True ZAFT was gaining strength. The mobile suits probably weren't as well-maintained, either. And speaking of mobile suits- Hey, watch it!"

Luna glanced up in time to see the Ceremonial-Type GINN narrowly miss stepping on them, continuing on its way along the base. "Almost crushed by an obsolete model," she sighed. "That would be just a great end to today, wouldn't it..."

"Watch where you're going!" Vino shouted irately at the GINN. "Just because we're not seventeen meters up... oh, forget it." He shook his head in irritation. "Mobile suit pilots… they're all the same…"

"I resent that," Lunamaria said mildly. "And what, exactly, does that say about mobile suit _mechanics?"_

The mechanic shook his head. "Never mind…"

* * *

Armory One, Office

* * *

"Your Excellency, the Chief Representative's shuttle has arrived."

PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal glanced up from the desk of his temporary office within Armory One, and nodded to his aide. "I see. Is she alone?"

The aide shook his head. "No, Your Excellency. She's accompanied by a single bodyguard, named Kira Yamato." He hesitated. "I believe it's the same Kira Yamato from the war two years ago, Sir."

Durandal nodded again. "It would be. He and Chief Representative Athha are practically inseparable… Is there anything else I need to know before I meet with them?"

The aide shrugged. "The only other news of note is that a pair of Section Nine operatives have also arrived; their mission is unknown at this time."

The Chairman frowned thoughtfully. "Section Nine… yes, I believe they did notify us that they'd be checking security here today, in preparation for tomorrow's launch of the _Minerva,_ and the rollout of the new mobile suits. Exactly how they learned of them in the first place, I'm not sure I want to know… In any case, ignore them; the Major's subordinates will just go about their business without bothering anyone else. Most likely, they'll be gone before we know they've even finished."

"Probably, Sir," the aide agreed. "What with their ship remaining so close by."

Durandal stood. "Well, I'd best go meet the Chef Representative. I suspect she has something of importance to say, if she came all the way to L4 to do it."

* * *

Armory One, Spaceport

* * *

As they walked across the spaceport toward the elevator that would take them down into Armory One's administrative areas, Kira glanced at Cagalli's attire and shook his head in fond amusement. "I don't suppose you could've worn a dress just this once?" he suggested carefully. "When you're going to be meeting the Chairman?"

Cagalli shot him a glare. "My suit is fine," she retorted. "I may be a 'princess', but practically speaking I'm a politician, not nobility. Besides, when was the last time you saw me in a dress?"

"Two years, six months, and eleven days," he replied instantly. "The day the _Archangel_ arrived in Orb the first time." He glanced at her sidelong. "You know, you _do_ look good in a dress."

She shook her head. "Oh, shut up…"

Kira smiled, glancing around in what had become habit as his girlfriend's bodyguard. He wasn't seriously expecting trouble… though if trouble did occur, he was fairly confident of his ability to handle it. Tucked into his black, civilian jacket was a very _un_civilian automatic pistol… and tied to his belt was a weapon not commonly seen in the PLANTs. A little over half a meter long, with a scarlet scabbard and matching twine-wrapped hilt, it was a wakizashi –a Japanese shortsword- which had been given to him two years before, by the ace pilot who had been his first mobile suit instructor, and his mentor. Kira didn't have the love for the blade that his teacher did –he knew all too well how messily a sword carved someone up- but he knew how to use it, and also knew that it could actually be more useful than the pistol, at least in close quarters.

So his sweep actually was mostly out of habit. The only movement he noted came from a trio of teenagers beyond the spaceport's gates, apparently window-shopping. His mind noted them dutifully, then ignored them.

* * *

Lagrange Point 4, _Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

The man in the center seat of the escort ship's bridge was blonde-haired and blue-eyed, the very epitome of a military officer and gentleman.

He was not, however, part of any regular military at all, but rather the mysterious third-party known as Section Nine. He had begun his career as an Atlantic Federation officer, stayed with the job when his service was merged into the Earth Alliance Forces… and then, as a young lieutenant, found himself thrust into command of the _Odin_ before she even left dock, after her senior officers were all killed in action within minutes of each other. That event had subsequently propelled him into deserting, along with the entire ship's company.

His name was Jason Chance. And as the slate-gray uniform he wore, complete with crossed-katana patch, indicated, he had no use for national forces any longer. _Though I do sometimes think staying with the Earth Forces would've put less strain on my brain,_ he thought, glancing to his left.

To the left of the captain's chair was a seat normally reserved for a flag officer; and indeed, a rear admiral had flown his colors from that chair during the War. Now, though, the position was occupied by the radio support for the Section Nine operation. As blonde-haired and blue-eyed as Chance, he was actually slightly younger… and his appearance would've startled a great many people, had his face been adorned by the mask that once typified him.

"Fascinating, how these things work out," Rau Le Creuset murmured, almost to himself. "We need to access information within Armory One, and what should happen but the Chief Representative schedules a meeting with the Supreme Council Chairman at that exact location, giving us the pretext of scouting security arrangements… Falcon really is as clever as ever."

"So it would seem… and a little more cautious than he was at Jachin." Chance shivered. "That was a real mess… Say, speaking of the Major, where is he?"

"Making final checks to his maser rifle, I believe," Rau replied absently, frowning thoughtfully at his own small display. "Experimental technology, after all; and while he _is_ a specialist in weaponry design, he's not accustomed to this particular field yet."

The captain snorted. "True enough. He's always been more the giant gamma-ray sort." He glanced sidelong at the ex-ZAFT commander. "But I suppose you'd know even more about the deployment of such weapons than he does."

Rau sighed. "Yes, I suppose I do; but I might point out that all I really did was goad Zala into using it, not activate the weapon myself. And we've already established I wasn't exactly in my right mind back then."

"True enough," Chance conceded. "Forgive me, though, if I still find it strange to have you on my bridge… as an ally, no less."

The other man raised an eyebrow. _"You_ think it's strange? At least you had a history of working with ex-ZAFT soldiers, Falcon in particular. The only contact I ever had with the Earth Alliance was through that incompetent Azrael." Rau turned back to his screen. "Now, if those two can just reach the objective…"

"_This is Blacksmith,"_ Tom's voice said over the radio. _"We've arrived at Hangar Six; preparing to begin data extraction."_

Rau nodded. "Excellent. How's the security?"

"_Pretty good, actually; they let _us_ through without a hitch, but then they're supposed to. I doubt any attacker could get through here without a veritable army."_ The engineer/operative paused. _"Lioness will run interference with the guards until my data extraction is complete, then we're out of here. Will make next contact when data begins to come in. Blacksmith, out."_

Chance glanced over. "'Lioness'?"

Rau shrugged. "Falcon picked the code; I understand it's because of the friendship Leanne and Lady Cagalli struck up during the War. Beyond that, I don't really have any idea." He leaned back in his chair. "Well, Captain, I believe that's all that we can do for now. All that's left for us to is wait."

The captain shook his head. "Oh joy, oh bliss…"

* * *

Armory One, Administrative Center

* * *

"I wonder why Chairman Durandal chose to meet us in Armory One?" Cagalli mused, as she and Kira stepped off the elevator. "This is a pretty out of the way place…"

"Probably for the same reason Ken's people are here," Kira offered, keeping pace with her on the short walk to Durandal's office. "_Minerva_ and the new mobile suits are supposed to enter active service tomorrow, after all; he's probably heavily involved in that."

She sighed. "Probably."

They arrived at the door to Durandal's temporary office, and, after a brief knock, the door was opened by the Chairman himself. "Ah, Lady Cagalli, Mr. Yamato. Please, come in."

As they entered, Durandal took the time to look them over. He knew rather more about them than they realized, of course; possibly more than they knew about themselves… at least at the genetic level. _So,_ he thought to himself, returning to his desk, _here are two of the four products of those experiments… still alive after all this time. Ulen would be pleased, I think. Heinrich, though… Heinrich would be very disappointed, I suspect. Not that Heinrich is in a position to be disappointed anymore, of course…_

The death of Heinrich Metzinger had come as something of a surprise to him, but only because he hadn't been aware the geneticist was still alive in the first place. Durandal had, up to that point, believed that his fellow scientist had perished in the same attack that had destroyed his lab; he'd been rather amused, however, to learn that in the end it was his own masterpiece that had killed him… without even caring to learn the truth of his own genetic background.

_A pity,_ he thought now. _I could've used a man like that… but I suppose Commander DiFalco is perfectly happy rebuilding Orb's capital these days. Ah, well…_

"So," Durandal said at last, once his guests were seated comfortably, "what can I do for you, Lady Cagalli? I assume you came on a matter of some importance, since you were willing to travel all the way to L4."

"Yes," Cagalli acknowledged, "I did." She gazed at him through narrowed eyes. "It's true, isn't it, that you're using Orb technology and human resources to create these 'New Millennium' and 'Second Stage' mobile suits? Along with the _Minerva?"_

"Yes," he conceded. "We are. I might point out, though, that some of that comes from Section Nine, which is jointly funded and supplied by Orb and the PLANTs; some of our research, for example, comes from a unit they… acquired, and subsequently turned over to us. I assure you, though, that none of this is intended for offensive deployment."

"Maybe not," she said, choosing her words with care, "but I'm afraid I have my doubts about how our resources are being used here. Section Nine can do what it wants; I've never tried to second-guess the Major. If that involves some of the material we gave them, fine. According to the charter that set them up, what they do is their business, so long as it falls within their mission statement. Resources direct from Orb, however, are quite another matter, Chairman."

Durandal sat back in his chair, considering. It would, of course, be possible for him to point out that Orb had something of its own which went even farther than Cagalli was accusing the PLANTs of; it was an open secret that Orb retained a single mobile suit that violated the Junius Treaty, after all. In the final analysis, though, allowances were made for Orb, given that it had been virtually annihilated by Muruta Azrael's nuclear attack, and was still in the process of rebuilding.

Finally, he shrugged. "I can understand your concerns," he said slowly, "even though I believe they're quite unnecessary. Therefore, why don't I take you to the facility itself? Perhaps seeing the new units with your own eyes will help you understand what it is we're doing here."

Cagalli hesitated. "Well…"

"I'd say it's a good idea," Kira said quietly. "We should at least hear him out, Cagalli; the PLANTs are still recovering from what Zala and Le Creuset did two years ago, remember. The restructuring going on up here must be almost as complicated as the physical rebuilding of Orb."

She hesitated a moment longer, then nodded slowly. "All right," she agreed. "We'll see for ourselves, Chairman. You deserve that much."

"Thank you, Lady Cagalli," Durandal said, standing. "I believe what you're about to see should allay your concerns at least a little." _After all,_ he added silently, _one of _Minerva_'s machines isn't even ours, originally…  
_

* * *

Armory One, Mobile Suit Hangar Six

* * *

"Well," Tom muttered to himself, surreptitiously attaching the cable from his pocket computer to the terminal in front of him, "here goes."

He was in a shadowy corner of Mobile Suit Hangar Six, not far from where three "Gundam-type" prototype mobile suits stood silently. Nearby, Leanne spoke quietly with the senior guard, discussing security details; but her role was primarily as a distraction, while he infiltrated his Boss's hacking program into Hangar Six's computers.

"This is Blacksmith," Tom murmured into his throat mic. "Beginning data extraction… now."

"_Understood,"_ Rau said through his earpiece. _"How soon do you expect the program to begin cracking the encryptions?"_

Lines of text and several images began appearing on the screen, and the engineer smiled to himself. "Now soon enough, Control? Getting data on ZGMF-X24S Chaos, ZGMF-X31S Abyss, and ZGMF-X88S Gaia. So far, everything's going smoothly."

"_Excellent."_ The ex-ZAFT commander paused, as a new thought occurred to him. _"Ah, Tom… are you actually supposed to be doing this?"_

Tom's smile widened. "Technically? …No. That's why we're _hacking_ the data, instead of just asking nicely. Technically, Section Nine's unlimited access only applies to locations, not data networks; however, Möbius One has deemed this necessary at this time."

He could practically hear Rau shaking his head. _"Yes, that sounds just like him… always the maverick, always convinced he's right… Well, since you're not supposed to be doing it, what sort of data are you not supposed to be getting?"_

The smile became a grin, almost despite himself. "Complete specs on the three prototypes we already knew about… including pilots. Hm… Chaos is slated to be piloted by Courtney Hieronymus; big surprise, considering that he's been the test pilot for every _other_ unit with remote weapons, except maybe Providence… Abyss is supposed to go to Mare Strode. Not familiar with the name, but I've been out of touch with the ranks for a few years. Gaia… well, now that's interesting."

"_Oh? You familiar with Gaia's pilot, Tom?"_

"Yeah, actually. It's Riika Sheder; I don't know if you know her, but she's ZAFT's only blind pilot. She uses the same kind of goggles Möbius One did a couple times, back when his eyes were growing back." Tom frowned. "Just a second; I'm getting data on a fourth prototype."

"_A fourth?"_ Rau repeated, mildly surprised. _"I thought there were only three."_

"So did I; maybe this one just hasn't been announced yet, or maybe they're security's a little better for the stuff already assigned to _Minerva._ Seems this one, ZGMF-X56S Impulse, is already aboard _Minerva,_ along with its assigned pilot. Some kid named Shinn Asuka."

"_I don't know the name,"_ Rau said after a moment's thought. _"Probably a new recruit; ZAFT had to rebuild their pilot corps after the War."_

"Don't I know it," Tom said quietly. "That last year was a real mess…"

"_Indeed… Well, anything else of note, or are those the only machines assigned to _Minerva_?"_

"It's starting to look that way… Wait a second." Tom stared at the new information on his screen, and whistled. "Well, well, well… so _that's_ what they did with it."

"_With that?"_

"Remember that raid in Greenland? The one that Möbius One authorized six months back? We captured a unit designated GAT-X105E Strike, along with a Noir Striker pack. We looked it over for about a week, copied the data, then gave the machine itself to ZAFT."

"_I remember,"_ Rau mused. _"I thought they were still studying it, though."_

Tom shook his head. "Apparently not, Control. It's been assigned to _Minerva…_ and the designated pilot is Millenia Crescent."

"_Crescent?"_ The older man fell silent for several moments, thinking. _"Oh, yes, that's right… one of Möbius One's protégés, right?"_

"Right," Tom confirmed. "Unlike Victor or Shiho, Millenia was never one of the Demons –which may have been just as well, given what happened to Victor– but we all knew her. She actually did have the skill to qualify for the team, though; the Boss never did explain why he didn't choose her."

"_He always had his own criteria for that sort of thing,"_ Rau reminded him, _"and he never explained it to anyone. Still… I'd heard she was killed in action, during Operation Spit Break."_

The engineer nodded, forgetting the other man couldn't see him. "She nearly was. In fact, she was worse off than Möbius One was after Endymion. The only reason she _didn't_ die, as I understand it, was because the doctors got wind of George Glenn's continued survival as a disembodied brain, and one of them discretely asked the Junk Guild how it was done. Then they just… built her a new body, using mobile suit technology and advanced prosthetics to create something that looks just like an organic body, based around her brain and part of her spinal cord."

"_Fascinating… I'd not heard about that, but at the time I was more interested in causing global chaos. So, what happened to her after the operation? I would've expected to hear about someone of her skill at Second Jachin."_

Tom shook his head. "She was placed in suspended animation immediately after she was transferred into the new body, and spent the remainder of the War in a stasis capsule. I didn't know she'd been brought out of it even yet, but according to this she was revived six months ago. If I had to guess, she's spent those months adjusting to her body, and training up for her new assignment."

"_I see. Hm…"_ Rau thought about it for a few moments. _"Tom, you spent some hands-on time examining the 105E, didn't you? How would you say Crescent will handle the unit?"_

"She was one tough lady in a GINN, Control," Tom replied, "and an even better pilot in a CGUE; we called her 'Black Widow', back in the day. Combine her skill with Strike Noir's performance, and you've got a force to be reckoned with. Not as good as Möbius One, of course… but you know as well as I do that we've only found one pilot who exceeds his skill. Believe me, Millenia is easily one of ZAFT's best pilots."

"_Assuming she's been able to transfer that skill to her new body,"_ Rau pointed out. _"If she's lost something with the change in physical makeup…"_

Tom shook his head again. "No way. You know as well as I do that most of what you need to be a skilled pilot rested in the mind, not the body… and moreover, her cyborg body will have a much higher G-limit. When the only organic component you really have to worry about is the brain…"

"_Hm. Good point. Well, carry on, Tom; contact me again when you're ready for extraction."_

"Roger that, Control. Blacksmith, out."

* * *

Armory One, Base Exterior

* * *

"I realize this may look to you like preparations for a war," Durandal said quietly, leading his two visitors past the hangars, "but I assure you, it's nothing of the sort. Or perhaps it is, but not in the way you think." He nodded to a new model in standard ZAFT green, positioned just inside one of the hangars; Kira recognized it as a ZGMF-1000 ZAKU. "The New Millennium series you see here, as well as the prototype Second Stage series, are merely our first line of defense."

"A formidable one," Kira noted. "And I can see where you've had to work around the Junius Treaty's provisions."

"Indeed," the Chairman concurred. "With the ban of N-jammer cancellers in military usage, we've instead opted for a prototype deuterion beam recharge system, at least for the Second Stage series. It's not as effective as nuclear power, of course, but as long as the mobile suit remains in range of the mothership its energy can be replenished as often as necessary."

"I can see where that would be an advantage," the youth murmured. He remembered all too well his own days piloting GAT-X105 Strike. Back then, running out of power in the middle of a battle had nearly killed him more than once, and the use of the FX-550 Skygrasper to deliver new Striker packs mid-battle had been a dubious solution at best. More often, the nimble fighters had used the Striker packs to supplement their own weaponry, and Strike had been left to fend for itself.

"You see," Durandal was saying, "we take the treaty very seriously, Lady Cagalli. We strictly adhere to its provisions, no matter the inconvenience, because we truly do want peace and freedom from aggression… but you need military power to ensure that."

"Sic Vis Pacem, Para Bellum," Kira quoted before Cagalli could respond, recalling one of his mentor's favorite dictums. "If you want peace, you must prepare for war."

The Chairman nodded. "Exactly. I see your teacher passed on his own philosophy to you, as well as the basic truths of war."

"To him, that _is_ a basic truth of war," Kira replied, and grimaced. "Unfortunately, it… took a few arguments for me to see his point." In point of fact, they'd nearly killed each other over it, but as the Earth Alliance's "Dead Zone" ECM field had been in effect at the time, only a handful of people were even aware of it. "He and I still disagree on a few points, and our tactics are often very different, but he was right about that one."

"Even so," Cagalli cut in quickly, "there's a risk to what you're doing. Don't you see? You may need force to protect yourselves, but if you have too much of it, other nations will believe you're intending to start a war yourselves, and take preemptive action."

Durandal shrugged. "I'll concede there's some truth in that, My Lady, but quite frankly it's a risk we have little choice but to take. True ZAFT may've forced a truce two years ago, but not everyone was pleased with that. And since, even now, the PLANTs remain numerically inferior to the nations of Earth, we have no choice but to develop new, better weapons if we're to ensure our own safety."

"That's supposed to be Section Nine's mission, isn't it?" Cagalli pointed out. "They were tasked with dealing with any rogue elements opposed to the Treaty…"

He nodded. "And they've done an admirable job of that. However, as you yourself say, they were intended to deal with _rogue_ elements; should the worst case happen, they simply aren't equipped to fend off the military might of an entire nation. They admit that themselves. Six months ago, they turned over to us a new mobile suit, one they'd confiscated during a raid on just that kind of 'rogue element', on the basis that we needed it more than they."

She sighed. "Look, Chairman, I'll admit you have a point –I spent too much time Kira's teacher not to realize that– but still…"

"As long as there are people, there will never be an end to human conflict," Durandal said quietly. "That's been proven time and time again throughout history. Therefore, it will always be necessary for us to have power. The power to protect ourselves… the power to make a difference."

Kira looked thoughtful, considering the Chairman's words. _That's the sort of thing Ken always says… and it's what got me to stay in the War, two years. And it's true, tensions between Earth and the PLANTs _have_ been rising again…_

Similar thoughts were running through Cagalli's mind; but she, unlike her bodyguard, remembered something _else_ their mutual friend had said. As a longtime ZAFT pilot, and onetime confidante of Patrick Zala, he'd known Gilbert Durandal. Not well, but they'd met on a few occasions… and he'd warned them when Durandal was elected that something about the man made him uneasy.

Exactly why, Cagalli doubted even he knew. Nevertheless, she didn't take her old partner's words lightly. A brilliant tactician and strategist, he was also a shrewd student of character.

_Which, unfortunately, just makes this meeting even more complicated than it already was.  
_

* * *

Armory One, Outside Base/ Hangar Six

* * *

The three teenagers Kira had noted earlier still stood outside the base, appearing to loiter idly at a street corner. At first glance, they would've seemed normal enough; the girl was idly turning one way or the other, almost as though in a personal dance routine. Her companions were looking just as casual, in their own ways.

But Stellar Lousier, Auel Neider, and Sting Oakley were there for purposes that were anything but casual… as evidenced when a car carrying two ZAFT greencoats drove up right next to them. "It's time," one of them said. "Get in."

"Right," Sting concurred, and the trio climbed into the vehicle with almost military precision.

"So," Auel remarked, once they were underway, "everything's on schedule, huh? I was beginning to wonder."

"We were waiting for the proper moment," the second greencoat replied. "What with the visit by the Chief Representative of Orb, security is even tighter than we expected; and on top of that, two Section Nine operatives turned up in the target hangar."

"Section Nine?" Auel repeated sharply. "That could change everything."

"Unlikely," Stellar put in quietly, before either "ZAFT" soldier could. "They might be expecting trouble, but they won't be expecting _us."_

"She's right," the first greencoat concurred. "We got a look at them both, and neither of them are equipped for a firefight; just sidearms. Besides, they won't be expecting to encounter troops of your… capability."

"So we take them out along the way, huh?" Sting mused. "Sounds good."

"Don't get cocky," the second greencoat warned. "We don't think they'll get in the way, but while killing them would be preferable, Section Nine operatives are smart. More likely, they'll try to escape, and warn their ship. Even if that happens, though, they shouldn't be able to alter the outcome."

Auel nodded. "Good. So… when does the operation begin?"

"Right now." The first greencoat pulled the car over at a side entrance to Mobile Suit Hangar Six, and gestured for the other infiltrator and the unassuming attack team to enter. "Weapons are right here," he went on, following them in and gesturing to a rather lumpy duffel bag. "They should be sufficient to get the job done."

Sting opened it, and whistled. "Well, well… I think these will do nicely." He withdrew a pair of ZAFT-issue submachine guns, slung one over his back, and tossed the other to Sting, then pulled out three hand grenades, and handed them out.

Auel stuffed one of the grenades into a pocket, and checked the chamber on his submachine gun. "Expecting an army in there, or are we just being thorough?"

"Does it matter?" Sting retorted. "Here, Stellar," he went on a moment later, handing her a pair of combat knives. "You know how to use these."

Stellar hefted them, tossed them, flipped them, and nodded in satisfaction. "Ready to engage," she said coldly.

The first greencoat nodded. "Then go. The mobile suits are just around that corner. Kill anyone who gets in the way, and commandeer the prototypes."

Sting nodded back. "Got it. C'mon, let's go." Never one to wait around, he immediately followed his own advice, charging off… and opening fire on the sign of movement.

* * *

Leanne was still talking animatedly with the senior guard –by now they were exchanging war stories; an excellent way to keep him distracted from Tom's actions– when the man's chest blew open.

Instantly, she flung herself backward, rolling to Tom's side. "What the hell just happened?" the engineer demanded; his question was partly answered a moment later by the continued gunfire, and an eruption of screams from the guards and the technicians working on the mobile suits. "Who's-?"

"I don't know," Leanne answered, cautiously straightening into a low crouch, while wiping the dead guard's blood off her face, "but it's not good! Who the hell is shooting?"

"How should _I_ know?" Tom quickly tapped his transmitter, activating the microphone again. "Control, this is Blacksmith; we've got a situation in Hangar Six!" He winced as he spoke; he'd just seen a technician fall back, a small hole between his eyes and a fist-sized exit hole in the back of his head.

"_What kind of situation, Tom?"_ Rau demanded. _"Is that gunfire?"_

"Big affirmative on that one, Control! We've got…" Tom paused, watching the three aggressors come into view, still shooting anything that moved. "We've got three hostiles entering; two of them have submachine guns, both male, and a third, female, has a pair of knives- Ouch," he said under his breath, seeing said female hostile perform a prodigious leap, landing right behind an unarmed technician and ruthlessly cutting his throat. "Aw, hell, Control, this is bad…"

"_Can you identify?"_ The ex-ZAFT commander sounded remarkably calm, almost cruelly so; the two operatives, however, knew that it was the forced detachment of a veteran soldier. _"Origin, objective, anything?"_

"Objective is pretty obvious; there are only three things worth this, unless they just want a massacre. Wait one, and I'll see what I can do about origin."

The only silver lining, Leanne reflected as she and her friend watched the terrible carnage, was that none of the attackers seemed to have noticed them yet. _Still,_ she thought, almost looking away as another guard went down with the boneless quality of the dead, _they _can't_ win going up against these odds; not even the Boss would be crazy enough to try it!_

One of the male hostiles was now running straight at a guard, rushing him in a seemingly suicidal charge. The guard reacted with trained, hair-trigger reflexes, ripping off a burst from his automatic rifle… which did absolutely nothing.

The stunned look on his face before a bullet obliterated the expression mirrored the ones worn by the two operatives. "Did he just dodge bullets?" Leanne hissed.

"Looked like it," Tom said in disbelief, "but that's impossible… Wait." His tone was suddenly flat. "The Boss does that by muscle reading… Control, we're not dealing with ordinary Naturals here. They're just teenagers, but they're tearing this place up like veterans… and their bodies are performing beyond normal Natural capacity." He took a deep breath. "Control, I think they're biological CPUs."

Leanne inhaled sharply, but there was merely a moment of silence on the other end of the radio link. _"I see,"_ Rau said at last. _"Entirely possible, actually; Section Nine never did locate the lab that produced Sabnak, Andras, and Buer, despite two years of searching, so it's hardly inconceivable… What's your own situation down there?"_

"Untenable," Tom said without hesitation. "We weren't expecting trouble; all we have are sidearms and swords. We need to evac immediately."

"_Understood. The shuttle will be ready to lift the moment you arrive. Anything else?"_

"Yeah. Wake Möbius One up, and tell him we've got a damn war going on down here!"

* * *

_Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Chance demanded of the universe. _"Another_ mobile suit-jacking? And who's behind it?"

"Most likely the Earth Alliance," Rau said absently, bringing up another com frequency (this one intraship), "if Tom's right about the attackers being biological CPUs… Hm; judging from the radio traffic at the spaceport, someone managed to set off an alarm before dying. Good." He hit a final key on his armrest, and cleared his throat. "Falcon, it's me. There's a situation in Armory One I think you should be aware of."

"_Understood,"_ the cold, almost detached voice on the other end replied. _"I'm on my way up now."_

"He doesn't sound very concerned," Chance noted.

"He never does, Jason; you should know that, after serving with him in the War. Believe me, he'll be more intent on the situation than he sounds." Rau shook his head. "No, I know Falcon. His outlook may have improved since the War, but I still know him. He won't be happy to hear about this."

"Neither am I," the other man grunted. "The new prototypes are supposed to be tough customers, at the level of… Wait a second. Our raid, six months ago. Could this be…?"

"Probably, Jason," Kenneth "Falcon" DiFalco said, entering the bridge. "Tensions never went down as far as I'd have liked, but our theft of one of _their_ new prototypes couldn't have helped matters." He grimaced. "It might've been a bit of a miscalculation on my part… but I suppose the 105E will help ZAFT beat off this attack." He looked over at Rau. "What exactly is the situation over there?"

"According to Tom, they're stealing the Second-Stage prototypes," the other man said grimly. "Killed everyone in the hangar except for our people, and now I believe they're laying waste to the other hangars." He, too, grimaced. "Tom also believes they're biological CPUs, or a derivative thereof."

Ken closed his right eye. "I see… Perhaps we should've devoted more effort to finding the lab that produced the first three."

Unlike the others on the bridge, he wasn't in uniform. Instead, he wore a slate-gray trench coat over equally-gray trousers and shirt, with a Section Nine patch on his shoulder and the gold oak leaves of a major on his lapels. Tied to his belt was a katana, twin to the wakizashi Kira Yamato carried; like the wakizashi, it had been baptized in blood years before.

On his face were twin sword scars, one running diagonally down and to the right across his left eye, and the other running almost perfectly horizontal across _both_ eyes. Legacy of wounds inflicted in the War by his own subordinate and student Victor Tempest, most people assumed that one or both of the wounds was responsible for the eyepatch covering his left eye.

In actual fact, he could see _through_ the patch; it was there merely to screen out the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums, which his genetically-modified eye was painfully sensitive to.

"Orders, Major?" Chance asked, after giving his boss a chance to evaluate the situation.

Ken twitched his head from side to side. "No action for the time being; there's nothing we can do as long as they're within the colony. Be ready to recover Tom and Leanne's shuttle… and have the hangar start prepping my Exus for launch."

"Understood, Major."

As the captain relayed the orders, Rau looked at his former nemesis with a raised eyebrow. "You think there's something else out there." It wasn't a question.

Ken nodded. "Obviously. Those three machines will need _something_ to pick them up, unless they're planning a suicide mission; they wouldn't have the supplies to make it to Earth Forces territory. Ergo, there's a ship nearby, most likely under Mirage Colloid."

"Which is banned by the Treaty… but I suppose if they're this audacious, they're not that concerned with the Treaty."

"Precisely. With the outbreak of open hostilities, the Treaty will become moot." The ex-ZAFT ace sighed. "It looks like my input into the Treaty wasn't as productive as I'd hoped, if war is resuming so soon… And they really do have rotten timing. Murrue's birthday is next week, and I'd hoped to be home in time."

"This may not take that long," Rau pointed out. "ZAFT has numerical superiority, at least over this attack force. There's also us, remember."

"I hope you're right… but I still think something bad is going to happen."

* * *

Armory One, Base Exterior

* * *

The sudden explosions from Hangar Six had startled even Durandal, as he led his guests around the base. "We seem to be under attack," he said, raising his voice to be heard over all the noise. "Lady Cagalli, Mr. Yamato, I suggest you find shelter immediately." He looked over at a nearby group of soldiers. "Do your best to get them out of here, and call _Minerva_ for assistance!"

"Yes, Your Excellency!"

Orders given, the Chairman headed off in another direction, surprising Cagalli. "Chairman, wait! Where are you-?"

"I have my own duties!" he called back. "Go! Find shelter!"

"Easier said than done," Kira muttered. "Let's go!" he called to the ZAFT soldiers. "We need to-"

Before he even finished speaking, the suggestion became suddenly, horribly moot. A ZAKU, crippled by the explosive entrance the three Second-Stage machines had made, stumbled, tripped… and fell.

Reacting on instinct, Kira hurled himself at Cagalli, knocking them both out of the way of the falling mobile suit… but the ZAFT soldiers weren't so lucky. None of them even had time to scream before it hit…

"This is bad," Cagalli whispered, carefully getting back to her feet. "Where do we go now, Kira?"

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "There's shooting everywhere… reminds me of Heliopolis, two years ago." His gaze wandered around the area… and his face tightened with determination as he took in the situation. "We don't have any choice. On foot, we're sitting ducks."

She looked at him in surprise. "You mean…?"

Kira nodded. "Yeah. We're gonna have to find an unoccupied mobile suit. I should've brought the Freedom, but… Well, it's too late to be thinking about that. Let's go."

"Right." The two of them took off running, heading as far away from the spreading devastation as they could… and wondering what had gone wrong this time. The last time they'd be involved in an incident like that, at least there'd already been a declared war going on…

Kira brought himself to an abrupt halt just in time to avoid beheading himself, as the tip of a sword sprang out of the side of a hangar wall next to him. "What the-" he began, and then the blade slashed a rectangular outline in the wall.

A booted foot kicked the cutout piece to the ground, and Tom Delaney charged out, followed by Leanne Eldridge; both carried drawn swords. Tom was favoring his right shoulder, and Leanne had a gash on her right cheek, but they were otherwise intact.

"Tom?" Cagalli said in surprise. "Leanne? What are you two-"

Leanne blinked. "Cagalli? Kira? We might ask you two the same question."

"No time for that," Tom said brusquely. "We've got a mess on our hands here; those three prototypes have been commandeered by what we believe to be biological CPUs."

Kira's eyes widened. "Then this is…"

"An Earth Forces attack," the older man confirmed. "Look, you two need to get out of here; this whole place is going up, and I think they've released toxic gas of some kind."

"Wait!" Cagalli protested. "What about _you?"_

"We're on our way to the spaceport," Leanne assured her. "We're getting out of here, and getting detailed information to the Major. I'd suggest you come with us, but… well, we're not entirely sure of our own safety along this route, let alone yours."

Kira nodded unwillingly. "Good luck, guys."

"Same to you."

The pair rushed off again, leaving Cagalli and Kira to resume their own escape. "Always in a hurry, aren't they?" Cagalli remarked, out of breath, as they headed off.

"As long as we've known them, yeah." Kira watched the sky above as they ran; explosions were still going off, and he, for one, didn't want to be crushed by falling debris. "The good news," he went on, "is that now we know for sure Ken's out there. If _he_ can get into the action…"

"Yeah," she agreed. "That would be good." _After all,_ she thought, _my old partner used to be ZAFT's best pilot… and he's still the highest-scoring ace in their records._ Bringing a hand to her chest, she felt the hard shape of the Order of the Nebula her partner had given her during the War, as a memento… and, as he'd said later, as a promise that if she needed help, he'd be there.

_And we sure need help today…_

"Watch it!" Kira warned, grabbing her shoulder. It swiftly became obvious why he'd stopped her; the huge, black shape of the Gaia stood directly in their path. If they'd continued, it would undoubtedly have crushed them like insects.

The Gaia itself, fortunately, appeared to have no interest in what was happening on the ground; the people running around beneath it seemed to be of no concern to it. Standing on all fours in a BuCUE-like mobile armor mode, it was instead more intent on the mobile suits surrounding it and its fellows. Its gaze was now fixated on an old-model DINN, flying above it.

An instant later, emerald fury leapt from the cannons mounted in Gaia's shoulders, striking the DINN's wings and sheering them off, connectors melting like butter under the onslaught.

Gaia leapt away, resulting in the path ahead being clear… but only for a moment. The falling DINN, its pilot having quickly ejected, slammed headlong into one of the hangars, tumbling mobile suits like so many bowling pins.

Including a ZAKU Warrior… which crashed to its knees in front of the two feeling Orb visitors, battered but intact.

Kira looked over at Cagalli, almost sheepishly. "I think that's our ride," he offered. "Unless you'd like us to keep going on foot."

She snorted. "After that thing nearly crushed us? No thanks, Kira; I think I'll trust your piloting skill, instead." _Because,_ she added silently, _you're the best there is…  
_

* * *

_Minerva,_ Centerline Catapult

* * *

Within the cockpit of the YFX-M56 Core Splendor, black-haired, crimson-eyed Shinn Asuka awaited orders to launch. A quiet sixteen-year-old from Orb, he wore the red uniform of a ZAFT top gun pilot; that prized status was why he was in this particular cockpit, of the only Second-Stage unit still in ZAFT hands. _Good thing we were both already aboard ship,_ he thought to himself, and keyed his radio. "Shinn here. I'm ready to go."

"_Understood,"_ a female voice replied from the ship's bridge. Her name was Meyrin Hawke, and she was in charge of directing mobile suit operations. _"We're sending the Sword Silhouette with you; launch when ready."_

"Got it." Shinn slid his visor down into place. "Shinn Asuka, Core Splendor, launching!"

* * *

_Minerva,_ Starboard Catapult

* * *

Not far from the catapults deploying the various component parts of ZGMF-X56S Impulse, another unit prepared for launch. Equipped with the same Variable Phase-Shift Armor, or "VPS", as the Impulse and its brethren, this mobile suit's origins were very different… as were those of its pilot.

GAT-X105E Strike, equipped with the AQM/E-X09S Noir Striker pack, had been created by the Earth Alliance, and entrusted to a unit that even Section Nine could learn little of… except that the unit did not officially exist. Because of that, the Earth Alliance had been unable to protest the theft of the Strike Noir without risking an international incident of war-making proportions.

And that had allowed Section Nine to simply hand it over to ZAFT, with no questions asked.

After almost six months of research, ZAFT had finally assigned the machine to a pilot, one who could use it to its full potential… and so the violet-haired, crimson-eyed pilot known as Millenia Crescent prepared to pilot Strike Noir into battle for the first time.

_A far cry from Alaska,_ Millenia thought, breathing deeply in a relaxation exercise. _At Alaska, I was hampered by lack of mobility… and by Sensei's presence, fighting for the _Archangel. _Back then, my body was still… human…_

Not for the first time, the ZAFT redcoat's hands unconsciously flexed, as though reassuring herself that her new body, while different from the organic one she'd been born with, did obey her brain's commands as precisely as did the old.

It was at times like these, when Millenia doubted her own body that the martial arts training her teacher had imparted to her became truly valuable. As he had, in times past, used meditation to escape his nightmares, so did she use those techniques to calm herself when she realized again how little of her body was still human.

_Maybe it's because I'm about to launch into battle again,_ she reasoned, _for the first time since that day… and the first time in this shell. Well, Sensei… I guess it's time to put your teachings into practice._

"_Strike Noir,"_ Meyrin called from the bridge, _"Impulse has launched successfully; you're cleared to depart."_

"Understood." Another deep breath… and suddenly, the tension was gone. "Millenia Crescent, Strike Noir, launching!"

* * *

Armory One, Base Exterior

* * *

"All right," Kira murmured, bringing up the ZAKU's main power, "here goes. I wish Athrun or Ken were here, but…"

Cagalli, perched awkwardly behind his seat, nodded in understanding. Unlike the two pilots to whom he referred, he himself had never flown any ZAFT machine other than ZGMF-X10A Freedom, and that unit had been closer to a GAT-series than to one of these New Millennium machines. Experience with a GINN or a GuAIZ would've served him better here. Still… "You'll figure it out, Kira," she said confidently. "You're the best."

"I _was_ the best," Kira corrected absently, fingers flying over the ZAKU's keyboard as he checked and modified the mobile suit's operating system. "But that was two years ago, and I haven't been in combat since Second Jachin."

"So? Your first battle happened before you had _any_ experience in a mobile suit at all, remember?"

"That's true," he conceded. "There. We're online."

The ZAKU Warrior stirred, and rose smoothly to its feet. It was, unfortunately, in standard configuration, without any of the Wizard packs that would give it greater tactical flexibility, but Kira wasn't displeased; it had a beam rifle and beam axe, which was more than could be said for the GAT-X105 Strike's armament the first time he'd flown it. _Better than just having Armor Schneiders and CIWS,_ he reflected. _This time… I can fight back properly._

In Gaia's cockpit, Stellar paused, becoming aware of activity behind her. _Hm? Who…?_ Without a flicker of expression, she tapped flight controls, bringing her purloined machine back into its mobile suit mode. _Prepare to-_

The instant before she could turn, Kira's borrowed mobile suit body-checked her, sending her beam rifle flying away before she could even think of using it. "I don't know who you are," he muttered, "but you're not getting away with this!"

"Merely an insect," Stellar noted, leaping back a few meters. "You won't be allowed to interfere." Now deprived of her rifle, she reached down and snatched out one of Gaia's Vajra beam sabers, and ignited the blade of frozen fire. "Just get out of the way."

Gaia's arm came down, swinging the saber in a vicious slash, but Kira hadn't survived the Bloody Valentine War by being careless. He'd fought better melee fighters than her, and even survived dueling with his own instructor. By the time her weapon reached out, he'd already grabbed and activated the ZAKU's beam axe.

The two energy blades met midway between the machines using them, clashing with a crackle of opposing force. The ZAKU didn't have the strength to push the saber all the way back… but neither could Gaia force its own weapon into the target.

Until, that was, Chaos came up from behind the _ZAKU._

Kira's head snapped around, and he swiftly withdrew his weapon from the clash even as he whirled to one side, but his inexperience with the ZAKU, and the Second-Stage unit's superior mobility, worked against him. Sting laughed within his own cockpit, his Vajra arcing down. A flash of vaporized armor, severed, sparking circuits, and boiled lubricants, and the ZAKU's left arm fell away. "Take this!" Sting cackled, and pulled his blade back for the killing blow. "It'll all be over in-"

A knee slammed into Gaia's back, knocking it flying into a nearby hangar. "I don't think so," a female voice said pleasantly. "Don't you know it's not polite to stab someone in the back?"

An instant later, Sting's killing blow was aborted by a swarm of missiles that hit _him_ from behind. "What the hell-!"

"Kira, what's going on?" Cagalli wondered, glancing around. "What just…?"

"I'm not sure." But even as Kira spoke, he saw it. Where Gaia had been standing, a menacing black shape, much like his old Strike, hovered, a long beam sword glowing in one hand. And behind the Chaos… something unusual was occurring.

It looked like a fighter of some sort, but it clearly wasn't; even as Kira watched, it ejected the missile launchers it had used on the Chaos, folded its wings… and hovered in midair as separate torso and leg units drew together around it, forming a mobile suit body with the fighter acting as cockpit. Then a third module, consisting of two antiship swords and a pair of beam boomerangs, snapped into place on the machine's back.

ZGMF-X56S Impulse dropped to the ground, red and white covering it in the distinctive effect of phase-shift armor. Seeming to glare at its opponents, it immediately snatched the antiship swords off its back, snapped the hilts together, and twirled the combined weapon over its head.

"Whoever you are," Shinn Asuka snarled, "you're not getting away with this! If you want to start a new war… then you'll have to get through _me_ first!"

* * *

Author's note

* * *

Two years have passed since the last war ended… but now the flames of battle flare anew, and Kira Yamato is once again at the heart of the conflict. And standing in the shadows is his teacher, whose role in the first war was to escalate it all, and then fight to atone for his own errors. How will these two soldiers cope with the new conflict?

Well, as promised, here's the sequel to Birds of a Feather. I realize some people may be surprised to see it; I did, after all, state early in Birds of a Feather that it would _not_ be sequeled. However, I also stated later on that I'd changed my mind, on the basis of my own curiosity and more than a little popular demand. Therefore, here it is.

Now, right at the start there's something I'd better make clear. It was stated outright several times in the first story, both within the dialogue and at least once in my author's notes, but since some people still seemed to miss it, I'll say so again right now: for the purposes of Birds of a Feather and Cry of the Falcon, Kira and Cagalli **are not related.** I want to make that very clear now, so that I don't get people telling me all the reasons why it can't work. I've been through all that already, thanks.

Now then, I hope that the first chapter was satisfactory; I'm well aware it's probably not as good as some things I've written, but then my beginning chapters never are. At the least, I suspect I've managed to surprise you with _some_ of the revelations. I assure you, everything will be explained, including to some things that may seem impossible. For the nonce, though, let me know what you think. –Solid Shark


	2. Chapter 2: Shades of Heliopolis

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

* * *

_Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

"…I understand, Tom. I'll notify Möbius One at once." Rau Le Creuset turned in his chair, and nodded at his old rival (and current commanding officer). "We've got a bit of good news, Falcon. Tom and Leanne have safely made it to the extraction point, and the shuttle will soon be on its way."

Ken DiFalco nodded back. "That's good to hear. I want them out of harm's way ASAP; we need that data… and I don't want to lose any more of my Demons."

"I understand," Rau said sagely. He knew better than most the bond between the former ZAFT ace and his teammates; knew that they would stick together till death and beyond… and that Ken was still keenly felt the guilt and the loss of three-quarters of his team. Seven of the thirteen Gray Demons had died in the Battle of Endymion, one was lost in a subsequent encounter with an Earth Forces ace… and one more, Lance "Sparky" Cooper, had died in the Second Battle of Jachin Due, sacrificially slamming his entire ship into the fortress in a bid to safeguard his commander and his mission.

The idea of losing the two "Endymion Demons" who still remained was anathema to "The Major".

"We'll be in a position to intervene if the enemy ship should make herself known, Sir," Jason Chance offered. "If the stolen prototypes make it out of the colony, we should be able to give chase; might not be pretty, but we could do it."

Ken considered that for a few moments, arms folded across the front of his trench coat, before shaking his head. "Negative, Jason. Not immediately, anyway. If that situation should arise, I'd prefer to make rendezvous with the _Minerva;_ I'm sure they'll be sent out in such an eventuality, and it would be more efficient if we joined forces."

The blond captain tilted his head. "Are you sure they'd be willing to do that, Major?" he asked respectfully. "Some do resent Section Nine's role as a third-party, extra-national organization, after all, even some people within ZAFT."

"I don't think it'll be a problem, Jason," Rau said thoughtfully. "Yes, there's some resentment, but most of ZAFT is aware we usually take their side in any disagreement; and given the Chief Representative's presence, I think they'll agree Orb –and, by extension, we- have a vested interest in the matter."

"Point, Rau," Chance conceded. "But, speaking of the Chief Representative… does she or Commander Yamato yet know that you're still alive?"

"Outside of Section Nine," Ken said dryly, "only my fiancé knows; a precautionary measure which seemed prudent, given the circumstances of Rau's last… public appearance. No, I rather think Kira and my old partner are going to have quite the interesting surprise soon."

His expression sobered. "Speaking of my fiancé… I'd better tell BaseOps to relay a message to Murrue for me. It looks like I may not be home as early as I'd hoped."

* * *

Armory One, Base Exterior

* * *

Kira breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the two new mobile suits arrayed for battle. "I don't know what's going on now," he remarked, "but it looks like we aren't alone anymore."

"Yeah," Cagalli agreed. "Good timing, too…"

The ZAKU Warrior they'd commandeered was in some ways even more advanced than Kira's old GAT-X105 Strike… but he'd never flown it before, and it did have its limitations. He was already beginning to get the hang of it, but he'd already lost an arm along the way, so the addition of ZAFT defenders to the battle was very welcome indeed.

Even if only one of the two new units was actually ZAFT-_built._

The red-and-white machine, evidently another ZAFT prototype, was the first to move, leaping forward with its combined antiship sword slashing down at the Gaia in a vicious cleave; to Kira, it looked as though its pilot wasn't very concerned about retaking the stolen units intact.

The thief in the cockpit, though, clearly had other ideas. Gaia leapt nimbly back, allowing the powerful energy blade to pass harmlessly through its previous location, then opened up with its CIWS, hoping to destroy the weapon itself.

Impulse pulled back immediately, let go with one hand, and pulled a beam rifle from behind its back. "Try this," Shinn Asuka hissed, and sent an emerald dart at the stolen machine.

Behind him, Sting Oakley frowned in confusion… then anger, as he recognized the unit that had first attacked the Gaia. "That's the Strike Noir," he hissed. "Section Nine gave it to ZAFT… Bastards!" He stepped away from Kira's ZAKU, no longer interested in the mass-produced unit, and lifted his Vajra saber. "You're going to pay for that…"

In the Strike Noir's cockpit, Millenia Crescent shook her head with a small smile. "Don't think you can best me in close combat," she murmured, lifting her own beam sword, a weapon with rather more power than Chaos' blade. "Those trained by the Grimaldi Falcon are more dangerous with a blade than you could ever hope to be…"

She was about to attack when the face of Arthur Trine, _Minerva_'s second in command, appeared on her screen, as well as Shinn's. _"Remember, both of you,"_ he began, _"your mission is _not_ to destroy them. We want them back intact, understood?"_

"Affirmative," Millenia replied immediately; as with her mentor, she believed in maintaining the chain of command.

Shinn wasn't quite so decisive. "How could they have done this in the first place?" he wondered aloud, instead of acknowledging the order. "I'd have thought our security would be better than _this!"_

"_You're in the middle of a battle, Shinn,"_ Captain Talia Gladys said sharply, replacing Trine on the screen. _"Remember your training: you've no time to wonder about such things at a time like this. Millenia,"_ she added, _"keep an eye on him."_

"Understood, Captain," Millenia replied readily, ignoring the faint sound of annoyance from her fellow pilot; she knew all too well how… impulsive Shinn could be. _Always talking back to his instructors,_ she recalled. _Even worse than Victor was… well, Victor in his saner days, anyway._

"I don't need a babysitter," Shinn radioed irritably, sidestepping an emerald bolt from the Gaia's rifle. "I can handle myself, Commander Crescent."

"I should hope so," the older pilot said quietly. "Because quite frankly, I have my own problems to deal with. Hey, you in the ZAKU," she called. "I suggest you back off, and leave this to us. You don't belong in this battle."

"Too risky," Kira replied, shaking his head. "I'm not turning my back on these guys. Besides, my mentor taught me how to deal with people like this. Maybe this ZAKU isn't the best unit… but true strength is in the mind, not the body."

Millenia blinked. "Lesson Thirty-Seven… you've read the '_Lessons of War'_? Then, your mentor must be…"

Kira nodded. "That's right, the man who first said that. I'm Kira Yamato… so maybe you understand why it is I can't take any chances right now."

She nodded slowly. "Yes, of course. I'll cover you, Commander; still, please be cautious. I know your reputation, but…"

"We'll be fine," Cagalli said, from behind Kira's seat. "This isn't as bad as Jachin Due was, after all."

On the heels of that statement, the two machines turned away –the ZAKU to face the Abyss, and Strike Noir to resume its face off with Chaos- and their pilots prepared to dive back into the maelstrom of battle.

* * *

_Girty Lue,_ Bridge

* * *

Captain Neo Roanoke absently rubbed the left eyepiece of his mask, calmly watching the display on his watch. _It's almost time,_ he thought to himself. _Assuming those three are on schedule, everything will begin right… about…_

"Increased radio traffic within Armory One, Captain," his communications officer reported. "Most of the transmissions are encrypted, but there's one in the clear about a chemical attack, and weapons' fire seems to have broken out within the colony."

"Right on schedule," Ian Lee noted.

"Indeed." Neo nodded to himself. "All right, then. Charge all Gottfrieds, and prepare to drop Mirage Colloid cloak. Remember to take _Odin_'s presence into account when you allocate your fire; we don't want to antagonize that ship into acting just yet."

"Understood, Sir," Lee acknowledged. "…Do you have any idea what they'll do when we begin the attack, Captain?"

"A notion," Neo admitted. "Section Nine takes the long view, Ian; whoever their strategist is, he's very nearly as good as ZAFT's Grimaldi Falcon. Knowing that, my belief is that they'll stand by for now. They don't have the military force we do, so they won't be inclined to risk _Odin_ unnecessarily, particularly if the Major is here personally. No, they're more likely to simply prepare to defend _themselves_ against offensive action, and then wait to join up with any ZAFT pursuit. It's what I'd do," he added thoughtfully, "which I why I want no offensive fire against them at this time."

His exec nodded, both in agreement and respect. Ian Lee had been skeptical at first, when Neo was given command of Phantom Pain; he hadn't been sure someone so young would have a proper appreciation for tactical and strategic realities. That fear had been diminished, though, when Neo's prediction of the Greenland attack had come true… and effectively vanished when the Armory One operation commenced so smoothly. As far as he could tell, Neo's reputation was fully deserved.

"All right," Neo murmured presently. "I do believe it's time. Lock onto that _Nazca_-class at three-fifty mark fifteen, drop Mirage Colloid… and open fire."

"Yes, Sir!"

Neo would actually have liked to see the face of the _Nazca_'s captain, when _Girty Lue_ simply materialized less than three kilometers away. After all, Mirage Colloid was banned by the Junius Treaty –though he himself had recently had some interesting thoughts about Section Nine's status in that regard- so seeing a warship decloak so close by would doubtless be an… interesting experience for the ZAFT captain.

For the remaining three point five seconds he had to live.

Before the _Nazca_ could react to _Girty Lue_'s appearance, all six of the Phantom Pain ship's Gottfried dual high-energy beam cannons erupted, sending streaks of terrible emerald fury across the void. All twelve beams struck the _Nazca_'s hull, smashing through the outer anti-beam coating and underlying armor with ease, shattered bulkheads and internal systems ruthlessly… and blasting back out the other side.

For the first time since the Second Battle of Jachin Due, a ZAFT _Nazca_-class destroyer blew up, sending out chunks of debris and spewing fire throughout the surrounding area; some pieces even struck the outer surface of Armory One, adding to the chaos.

"I think we've been noticed, Captain," Lee noted. "The _Odin_ just went to full combat status; we're reading massive amounts of energy being directed into the ship's Lohengrin, and their ECM and ECCM just went up to max."

Neo waved a hand in dismissal. "Never mind them, Ian; if they were intending to attack, they'd already be in motion. We ignore them, for now… Instead of worrying about Section Nine, dispatch the Dagger L unit. Tell them to head for the spaceport, as planned. And target the next _Nazca;_ the more chaos out here, the better."

"Yes, Sir."

Leaning back in his chair, the masked man smiled to himself. _And so… the curtain rises…  
_

* * *

Armory One, Base Exterior

* * *

Several old-model DINNs swooped down toward Gaia, firing bursts of machine gun fire in an effort to knock down its phase-shift… and exploded, one by one, as emerald streaks spat from the ground to strike them mid-flight, blasting them apart.

Sting was responsible for taking care of his teammate's attackers… and the distraction nearly cost him as life, as Strike Noir darted at him, beam sword in one hand. "Kill _my_ comrades, will you?" Millenia snarled, swinging her blade down. "I won't forgive that!"

Chaos leapt back at the last instant, and managed to catch the blade on its own immaterial weapon in a clash of sparks. "She's good," Sting grunted to himself. "Where'd they dig _her_ up?" Breaking free of the clash, he dodged back, then thrust forward, hoping to skewer the ex-Phantom Pain unit.

At the same time, Abyss dueled with the red ZAKU, a beam lance in its grasp. A battle of axe versus lance could've gone either way, normally; the lance had the advantage of reach and speed, but the axe had a larger surface area, with greater raw power. The two could've canceled each other out… but Abyss was piloted by Earth Forces pilot Auel Neider, while the ZAKU was controlled by Kira Yamato.

The greatest pilot of the Bloody Valentine War.

Kira grunted, blocking a thrust from Abyss with his axe, and was just preparing to shove the stolen machine away when the ground beneath the ZAKU's feet trembled. "What the-?"

"That felt like an explosion," Cagalli said, concerned. "I think there's more going on here than just three stolen prototypes, Kira."

"I think you're right," he agreed unhappily. "Nothing we can do about that, though; it's not our concern. All we can do is try and get _ourselves_ out of this alive."

"Yeah…"

The ZAKU stepped forward then, chopping down with its axe, but Abyss parried almost absently, and dodged back two paces. "That's the signal," Auel radioed to his fellows. "The attack on the spaceport's begun; we're supposed to get out of here now."

"I know," Sting grunted back, exchanging a rapid series of blows with Millenia, "but that's easier said than done. Whoever this pilot is, she's good!" He managed to force the tip of Strike Noir's crimson blade into the ground, giving him a moment's breathing space, but he knew it was only a temporary reprieve. If he kept up the duel, the ZAFT unit would eventually get lucky.

_And we can't let that happen._

Before Millenia could free her weapon, Chaos leapt back, rejoining Abyss. "We don't have time for this, Auel," Sting noted. "We're running late."

"I know. Stellar!"

"Bastards," Millenia muttered. "If Falcon were here, you'd be dead by now…" _Or if you were used to your machine by now,_ a corner of her mind whispered. _Not enough time to train before it all went down… now we're paying the price… Blast it, Sensei, where are _you?

Shinn, oblivious to his nominal superior's irritation, was continuing to hammer at Gaia, twirling his double-ended blade in a furious attempt to break through the stolen unit's defense. So far, it had managed to parry or evade every strike, but he could tell its pilot was starting to slow down. _Just a little bit longer,_ he thought, gaining confidence. _Just a bit longer, and-_

Beams erupted around him, bursts of emerald energy pounding the ground at his mobile suit's feet as fast as the single rifle and two triple-barrel cannons could cycle. "What the hell-!" Shinn hurled Impulse to one side, desperately evading the barrage which had turned near-certain victory into something dangerous, uncertain, and decidedly unpleasant.

He succeeded in keeping Impulse from being blown to scrap metal… but now Stellar saw her chance for payback. Gaia ran forward, lowered its shoulder, and slammed into Impulse, knocking the machine clear off its feet and into the side of a hangar.

"Good work, Stellar," Sting said approvingly, while Shinn tried frantically to recover his equilibrium. The Phantom Pain pilot grinned now, for he once again held an ignited beam saber in one hand… and he swept it down with profound satisfaction. "Time to finish this, once and for-"

A beam axe went hurtling past him, arcing toward Stellar… and seventy-three point zero-nine metric tons of ZAKU Warrior crashed into Chaos from behind, while a dark shape charged at Abyss from the left.

"Enough!" Kira shouted. "Why the hell do you people have to _do_ this? Wasn't the last war enough for you?"

"Pest!" Auel snarled, dodging away just in time for Strike Noir to streak harmlessly past. "Time to finish _you_ off!" Rounding on the ZAKU, he charged his chest-mounted "Callidus" multiphase energy cannon, targeted the interloper… and fired.

Kira Yamato wasn't known as the best pilot of the Bloody Valentine War for nothing, however. Even piloting an unfamiliar machine, which had already lost an arm, he remained very good at what he did; and his first battle in a mobile suit had literally been within minutes of first climbing into one, with no prior piloting experience at all.

Today, he had an entire war's worth of _combat_ mobile suit experience behind him, as well as his mentor's tutelage.

Cagalli gasped involuntarily at the sight of the blast of red-orange fury, streaking toward them, but Kira kept his cool, and managed to throw the ZAKU to one side. The shoulder-mounted shield, along with the stump of the ZAKU's left arm, were torn away, ripped asunder by the terrible energy release, but the mobile suit itself was left mostly intact… and before Abyss could charge a follow-up shot, the Strike Noir's beam sword cleaved a chunk out of its left fin, diverting its attention.

"Get the hell out of here!" Millenia called. "There's nothing more you can do here, Commander Yamato; get the Chief Representative clear before something else happens!"

Kira nodded in reluctant agreement. "Okay. Be careful."

"That's what I should be telling _you,"_ the ZAFT pilot muttered, watching the ZAKU whirl, then take off in a vernier-assisted leap. "Never met before, and he's already saying… I guess Freedom's pilot really is as compassionate as they say, even to pilots he might once have been fighting…"

* * *

_Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

"Sorry we're late, Major," Tom Delaney said, entering the compartment; he was, like his companion, out of breath. "Came as fast as we could, but we ran into a couple of delays…"

Ken shook his head. "It's fine, Tom. I'm just glad to see you two safe; it's bloody chaotic out there, from what we can tell." He nodded at the main display, toward the bow. "In addition to the fighting within the military base, there's a ship out here blasting everything in sight… along with a squad of Dagger Ls, which it sent into the colony spaceport."

Leanne Eldridge swore under her breath. "Earth Forces bastards… Have they turned their attention to _Odin_ yet?"

"No," Rau replied, "and I doubt they will. My guess, which Falcon concurs with, is that they don't want to risk antagonizing us yet; doubtless they remember the Greenland incident, among other things."

"They have to know we'll be coming after them eventually," Ken mused, rubbing his eyepatch in thought. "LOGOS realized over a year ago that we were starting to specifically target them, even if they don't know why… and they certainly know we won't just sit idle while a 'terrorist' incident is underway." He glanced up at _Odin_'s captain. "No sign of _anything_ directed at us, Jason?"

"Not a thing, Major," Chance confirmed. "No shipboard weapons, no mobile suits, nothing. Perhaps they're relying on Mirage Colloid to get them clear, in the event of a chase? That's how they got this close in the first place, after all."

"If they are, they're making a mistake," Tom noted. "Mirage Colloid has a maximum duration of eighty minutes; they'd have to have engines more powerful than anything I've ever heard of to get out of our reach in that amount of time."

"The stolen mobile suits," Rau murmured thoughtfully. "Perhaps… they're intending to use those to beat us off, along with anything ZAFT sends after them? They can't know Section Nine's core comes from the old True ZAFT, so they're probably assuming we don't have much, if anything, in terms of mobile suits aboard."

"Unfortunately, they're mostly correct about that," Leanne said dryly. "Except for the Major's Exus, and…"

"Yes," Ken agreed. "I see what you're both getting at, and I think you're right." He grimaced. "Another reason I'd prefer to wait on engaging them until we have support. I could take out anything they've got now single-handedly without breaking a sweat; Dagger Ls are little better than the Strike Daggers we fought in the War, and I destroyed dozens of _them_ personally. But if the stolen prototypes can make rendezvous, I won't be able to engage them at all until I get all the bugs worked out of that maser rifle."

"So we sit here… and wait," Chance sighed. "Understood, Major… and for what it's worth, I guess I have to concur."

No suggestion was made of engaging _before_ the stolen machines could arrive, of course; without more detailed information on the current situation within Armory One, they had no way of knowing when or if those units might come calling.

_We all know that,_ Ken thought to himself, silently watching the display, _but I have to admit, this feeling of helplessness eats at me. Waiting… it never gets easier, no matter how many battles you fight. Still, if I went off half-cocked, and got my backside shot off for my troubles, I'd have quite a time explaining it to Murrue…  
_

* * *

Armory One, Base Exterior

* * *

"This one was a doozy," a ZAFT mechanic grunted, heaving a chunk of debris away from a downed white ZAKU Phantom. "Explosions everywhere, gunfire, beams… Any idea what's going on, Rey? Even Section Nine was here a little while ago…"

"I don't know," ZAFT redcoat Rey Za Burrel admitted. "All I know is that three of the Second Stage series machines were hijacked, and now two of _Minerva_'s units are involved in combat with them. Section Nine's operatives apparently disappeared as soon as the fighting began; either killed, or trying to get word to _Odin,_ I guess. I also know… that I need to get moving." He glanced over at his companion, another redcoat. "I'll get your unit uncovered, and then we'll go help Shinn and Commander Crescent."

"Right," Lunamaria Hawke agreed. Her red ZAKU Warrior, equipped with the Gunner Wizard pack, was buried under several large pieces of debris, much as Rey's Phantom had been; the fastest way to get it out would be exactly what Rey was now preparing to do, as he climbed into his machine: use the Phantom's powerful limbs to remove the obstructions.

As Rey worked, she could hear shouting from somewhere nearby. "Your Excellency, please! You need to get to shelter immediately! It's too dangerous out here!"

Luna blinked in surprise, hearing the next voice. "Not yet," Gilbert Durandal said calmly. "Not until I know more about the situation. The more I know, the more effectively we can combat these people in the future."

"But…!"

"No. I understand the risks, but my decision is made. Until I have a better idea of what's happening, I'm staying right here."

_Well,_ Luna thought, as her ZAKU was finally uncovered, _the Chairman's got guts, that's for sure. I'd hate for him to get hurt in the chaos, but at least he cares about the troops… more than could be said for Zala._

She, for one, had always remained largely undecided about the actions of True ZAFT in the previous war; her intention had been, and remained, to find out from people who had been there the facts of the matter, then make her own judgment of the group's morality from that. One thing, though, she'd decided long since: Lance Cooper and his crew had been heroes for their actions at the Second Battle of Jachin Due. Though they lost their lives in the process, their removal of Patrick Zala was, in her mind, one of the most important actions of the last days of the War. His callous disregard for the lives of individual soldiers, to the point where he didn't even care if ZAFT forces were in GENESIS' line of fire, had marked him as a menace to his own people.

Luna was grateful to learn that Gilbert Durandal was clearly cut from different cloth.

* * *

Millenia cursed, firing a pair of emerald darts at the Chaos. She'd given up on the beam sword for the time being, and now used her twin "Shorty" beam rifles; unfortunately, she wasn't yet having much luck with those, either, and again Chaos managed to catch the bolts on its shield, spattering them harmlessly.

_Too long spent in the deep freeze,_ she thought bitterly. _Six months wasn't long enough to get the edge back, not when I needed to train myself just to use my body… If only I'd had more time!_

She cursed again then, leaping to one side to avoid a retaliatory burst of emerald fire from Chaos' beam rifle. "Try that, interloper," Sting muttered to himself. "Just hurry up and let me waste you!"

Shinn wasn't having much better luck facing off with the other two machines; so far, they were keeping him on his toes, and preventing him from landing even one hit on either of them. His own inexperience was working against him… as was the fact that there were three of the stolen units, and only two ZAFT-controlled machines in the battle.

Still, he wasn't about to give up without a fight. Reaching back with one hand, he snatched out a beam boomerang from the Sword Silhouette backpack, and hurled it at Gaia, while simultaneously raising the shield on his left arm to protect himself from a burst of red-orange fire, lancing out from Abyss' chest in an effort to vaporize him.

Stellar reacted with lightning reflexes, sweeping out a Vajra saber to bat the boomerang away. "Like I'll let you get away with that?" she muttered angrily. "If you survive that blast…"

Indeed, had Impulse not been able to interpose its shield in time, it might've met a gruesome fate; as it was, the multiphase energy cannon's shot ricocheted off Shinn's shield and slashed into the ground, blasting apart several grounded mobile suits in a shower of parts and debris.

"I," Millenia grunted, absently noting the destruction as she lunged for Chaos again, "am getting very tired… of these thieving lunatics!" Having once again activated her own blade of frozen fire, she slashed down with it in a vicious chop, trying to bisect the stolen unit; after all the trouble they'd been so far, even she wasn't very concerned with recovering them intact anymore.

Sting's eyes widened, and he countered hurriedly, stopping the blade only a few meters from his machine with his own energy blade. A moment later, though, he nearly died anyway… as an emerald dart and a massive blast of red-orange fire erupted from above, nearly blasting him apart.

He cursed, leaping back with almost frantic haste. "Company," he said grimly. "Auel, Sting, we need to get out of here, right now!"

"Agreed," Auel said immediately. "We've wasted too much time here already. Let's go!"

"No," Stellar countered, most of her attention still focused on the Impulse. "I'm not going anywhere until I finish _him_ off."

"Stellar!" Auel grimaced. _I didn't want to have to do this, but…_ "If that's the way you want to do this," he said carefully, "then you can just go ahead and die!"

In Gaia's cockpit, Stellar froze, eyes widening. "D…die…?" she whispered, muscles starting to tremble with primal fear. "N-no… No! _I don't want to die!"_ Filled with sudden panic, she took two uneasy steps away from Impulse, then leapt into the air.

_No! I can't die! I don't want to die!_ A terrible, unnatural fear had gripped the pilot, and now she fled as fast as her stolen mobile suit would fly, trying desperately to escape the terror of death…

"Well," Sting remarked, taking to the air to follow her, "it wasn't pretty, but it worked."

"Yeah," Auel agreed sourly. "Now let's get out of here, before something worse happens."

"Sorry we're late," Luna apologized, setting her ZAKU down next to the Impulse. "Our machines were trapped for a little while, thanks to all those explosions."

"I suspected as much," Millenia told her. "Well, we'd better go after them; if they escape the colony, they'll be a lot harder to track down."

"Right," the younger woman agreed; and, along with her fellow pilots, attempted to lift off again… only to have her verniers simply sputter, while red warning messages flashed across her screens. "…No good," she said, with a heartfelt inner curse. "My thrusters are damaged. I think I can get airborne, but not in time to chase, and not enough for a fight."

Shinn winced. "Then we'll have to do it ourselves. Sorry, Luna."

"We'll manage," Rey told him. "As long as we hurry, anyway."

"Indeed," Millenia agreed. "There's no time to waste. Luna, get back to the _Minerva;_ we'll take things from here."

"Roger that."

Sighing, Luna could only watch as her fellow pilots took off to continue the pursuit without her. _And there's my first combat mission,_ she thought bitterly. _Must've been damaged by the debris… bastards. Well, next time I'll do better…  
_

* * *

"I think we're safe, for now," Kira said with a sigh, shutting down the ZAKU's verniers for the time being. "I don't think any of the fighting is going on anywhere near here; not unless there's more than just the three stolen machines, anyway."

"Yeah," Cagalli agreed, slumping behind the seat. "Good thing, too. Flying backseat in the old Raptor was one thing; at least that _had_ a backseat. This ZAKU…" She sighed. "I guess Ken was right to be worried about the meeting today, after all."

He shook his head. "I don't think even he expected this, Cagalli; I'm pretty sure checking security wasn't the real reason those two were here. He was probably after information, like he usually is… so even he might not be able to do much, if this battle spreads outside the colony."

"You're probably right," she conceded unhappily. "Kira… this reminds me an awful lot of what happened at Heliopolis, when we first met. This time, there's at least more defenders, but still… I'm worried. If it happens again…"

"At least it isn't a neutral, civilian colony this time," Kira pointed out. "If something happens, there shouldn't be any civilians caught in the crossfire."

"Except us," Cagalli noted, grimacing. "Tell me again why you let me talk you out of bringing the Freedom along? If we had that, none of this…"

"What's done is done," he said gently. "And the truth is, _I_ didn't really think it would be necessary, either; I was just thinking in terms of contingency planning, and the fact is, you were _right._ Going by what we knew then, bringing along the Freedom would've been a bad idea. Most of the world may be willing to overlook my possession of a nuclear-powered mobile suit, despite its violation of the Treaty, but if I brought it along without any evidence of a genuine need for it, the Atlantic Federation, and maybe the rest of the Earth Alliance, would've cried 'foul'. With that in mind, it was an unnecessary risk; we had no way of knowing something like this was going to happen."

She sighed again. "I guess you're right. Still… what do we do now? The battle might still spread over here, and we can't stay here forever. Then there's the toxic gas Tom and Leanne mentioned… We need to move on, Kira."

"I know," Kira agreed. "I'm just not sure where to go yet. Unless…" He frowned, thinking. "The _Minerva,_ maybe? The presence of those two mobile suits suggests the ship's ready for deployment, so it's probably about as safe a place as we're gonna find right now. Besides, even Ken thinks that ship's captain can be trusted, even if he's not so sure about the Chairman himself."

"Good point," Cagalli acknowledged, after a moment's thought. "In that case, let's get going. We don't know how much time we have before _they_ deploy, too."

"Right."

The decision made, their commandeered ZAKU's thrusters fired again, and they headed off once more.

* * *

_Girty Lue,_ Bridge

* * *

Outside Armory One, battle continued to rage…mostly one-sided, as the surprised defenders –many of them still using the obsolete GuAIZ R- were ripped into by the more modern Dagger L units, as well as the single capital ship's fire.

Neo, though, hardly noticed the battle itself, even when _Girty Lue_'s Gottfrieds blasted another _Nazca_ into a shattered hulk. _There's something wrong here,_ he mused, rubbing his left eyepiece. _The amount of time that's passed… We should've heard something from them by now. Unless they ran into heavier opposition inside the colony than we're seeing out here…?_

"Our pilots are behind schedule," he noted to Ian Lee. "Either they weren't able to obtain the machines in the first place –which seems unlikely, given the chaotic radio traffic- or they ran into tougher opposition than we expected."

"Additional prototypes?" Lee postulated. "It's possible our intelligence was incomplete."

"Very likely," Neo concurred. "Also, it occurs to me that they might have one of _our_ machines. The X105E hasn't been seen since Section Nine stole it, and I find that very suspicious; I'd have expected them to have deployed it by now, if only against one of the terrorist groups they're always chasing. Unless, of course…"

"…They gave it to ZAFT," Lee finished, face tightening. "That's what you're getting at, isn't it, Sir? In that case, it could well be engaging our pilots right now."

"Exactly. Which is why… I'm going to head out there myself."

His exec nodded. "Which unit, Sir? Your Exus, or the Nightwing?"

"The Exus," Neo replied. "Nightwing isn't quite ready yet, and I'd rather not reveal it just now anyway. We spent too much time and effort just getting the design for me not to save it as a surprise. Besides, my Exus should be enough to deal with anything but the X105E, and it should be sufficient for that, as well, with our pilots backing me up." He stood. "You have the conn, Ian."

"Aye, Sir."

* * *

Armory One, Interior

* * *

"I just don't understand it," Shinn complained, following after the stolen machines' trails. "It's been only minutes since they first laid eyes on the things, and they can already pilot them well enough to give us this much trouble?"

"Rau Le Creuset's elite pilots managed even better than this at Heliopolis, two years ago," Millenia noted, her Strike Noir keeping station to his right. "Admittedly, they were Coordinators, and extraordinarily talented ones at that, but they proved it could be done. Moreover, the Grimaldi Falcon reputedly fought Le Creuset to a standstill within minutes of boarding _his_ G-weapon."

"…Point," Shinn conceded. "Definitely a point." Not having been with ZAFT during the Bloody Valentine War, he lacked the institutional distrust some factions within ZAFT had of their wayward pilot, over his actions during the War; and while he'd been in Orb only hours before the nuclear attack the Earth Forces launched in retaliation for DiFalco's exploits there, he didn't blame the ace for that, either. The way he saw it –especially after learning the full details of Patrick Zala's actions- was that the Grimaldi Falcon had done what he could, based on the limited options still available to him.

His Academy classmates –and new shipmates- weren't unaware of that fact. "You really admire the guy, don't you?" Rey remarked, glancing over at Impulse.

"So?" Shinn shot back. "The guy had more guts than all of Orb combined; sure, he spent four months hiding from ZAFT at Heliopolis, but that was because he already _knew_ what the war was like. Orb tried to stay out of it completely, but all _he_ did was try to leave it when he'd been on the sharp end too long… and when Heliopolis was attacked, he didn't hesitate to throw himself back into it anyway."

"He did spend the remainder of the War fighting _against_ ZAFT, Shinn," his friend noted. "He killed quite a few of our pilots in the latter stages of the conflict."

"Only because Zala had left him no choice but to fight against ZAFT," Shinn retorted; this was an argument they'd gone over many a time before. "And remember, he only killed when he had no choice; in the last campaign, he knew GENESIS was too great a threat for him to allow _anything_ to get in his way."

"Hm…" Rey mulled that over –as usual- and then glanced over at the Strike Noir. "What's your view, Commander Crescent? You trained under Commander DiFalco, didn't you?"

"Directly under," Millenia said dryly. "I was one of two pilots whose careers he took a specific interest in; the other, unfortunately, turned out to be a madman, and was eventually killed by Falcon at the Mendel Colony. But yes, I knew Falcon well… and, as I was in cryogenic stasis for the last months of the War, all I can tell you about the man is this: he was a cold, calculating warrior, who could be the most ruthless bastard you never wanted to meet on the battlefield… but he was also a sort of knight in shining armor. Utterly devoted to the protection of the PLANTs and to his comrades, he stuck to his principles to the end."

"You talk about him in the past tense," Rey noted. "Did he actually die in the destruction of GENESIS?"

She shook her head, a faraway smile on her face. "No, he survived it, or so I heard… but Falcon's retired now. Nobody outside True ZAFT's seen him since the War –though some say he was involved in drafting the Junius Treaty- but last I heard, he was in Orb, designing the new capital city's layout all by himself. He always did love engineering…" Millenia shook herself. "But war stories can wait till later. We need to make sure those machines don't escape the colony. If they get to space…"

"It'll be that much harder to bring them down," Shinn agreed grimly. "So let's go."

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"There's been an evacuation notice issued within the colony, Captain," Meyrin Hawke reported, one hand cupping a headset. "It seems there's been a release of poisonous gas, probably by the infiltrators or confederates of theirs."

Talia Gladys nodded grimly. "They're being thorough," she murmured, almost to herself. "Too thorough. Hm… Any word about Chief Representative Athha, or her bodyguard?"

Meyrin shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Captain. A ZAKU pilot reported seeing them several minutes ago, in the company of two Section Nine operatives, but there's nothing current."

"I see." Talia closed her eyes in thought. "Section Nine… I wonder how much of today's events _they_ predicted?"

_The successors of the "True ZAFT" faction,_ she mused. _Maybe that's not what they are officially, but it's becoming increasingly clear Chairwoman Canaver and Lady Sahaku were thinking of DiFalco's group when they organized Section Nine. If that's so… then perhaps their purpose isn't what everyone assumes it to be. It's time I checked the relevant clauses of the Junius Treaty personally…_

With that thought in mind, it also occurred to her to wonder where the Grimaldi Falcon himself was at that time. Had he been there, she suspected the battle would be going far differently…

* * *

Lagrange Point 4, Outside Armory One

* * *

_If this doesn't buy my pilots time,_ Neo thought, guiding his TS-MA4F Exus mobile armor toward the battle, _nothing will. I think it'll be sufficient, though; not many people can use these weapons to their full potential, after all…_

As the young captain had expected, he was almost instantly noticed by four GuAIZ Rs, along a pair of even more obsolescent CGUEs. All six machines had been heading off to help protect Armory One's spaceport, but now their pilots obviously decided the mobile armor was a more convenient –and possibly more dangerous- target, and turned to intercept.

Neo doubted they had any idea what they were really up against. The Exus wasn't exactly the most top-secret weapon the Earth Forces used, but at present less than a dozen of them were in use through the entire Alliance, due to how rare the level of spatial awareness they required truly was. Therefore, it seemed unlikely they knew much, if anything, about its capabilities… which meant they likely assumed it was little more dangerous than the Möbius Zero units flown by the likes of Mu La Flaga in the War, which were by now even more obsolete than the GuAIZ R.

"Time to show them the error of their ways," he murmured, as the ZAFT suits began to open fire with beam rifles. "Only seldom is true surprise achieved in battle; usually, it is simply that the commander has misinterpreted what he's seen all along…"

Now they'd see the truth of those words.

Powering straight at them, Neo snap-rolled to his right, dodging between a pair of emerald darts, and charged right through the formation of ZAFT mobile suits. Before they could do more than twitch in surprise, his attitude-control thrusters fired, spinning him in a punishing hundred and eighty degree turn… at which point, he deployed the four wireless gunbarrels attached to his mobile armor's fuselage.

"Remote weapons!" the lead GuAIZ R pilot gasped, switching his targeting over to one of the gunbarrels. "That's not a-!"

Before he could open fire, the gunbarrel ignited a double-ended beam saber, activated its own thrusters, and slashed across space toward him. Its blade of frozen fire caught at the GuAIZ's torso, melted through armor with little resistance… and tore out the other side.

The GuAIZ hung there for a moment, separated into two distinct pieces –neither of them with a living pilot inside- and then exploded, vomiting debris out into space. Some of it would eventually fall into an unstable orbit, and vaporize in reentry. Other pieces would one day reach the edge of the solar system, and begin a long, lonely journey to the stars…

The other GuAIZ Rs and the CGUEs hesitated visibly, and Neo smiled to himself. "It's time to hunt," he whispered… and sent his gunbarrels spiraling in.

* * *

_Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

"Any change in the situa-" Jason Chance looked up quickly, hearing his CO cut himself off mid-word. "Major?" he said hesitantly. "Is something…?" Then he realized that, not only did Ken have an arrested expression on his face… but so did Rau. "What's going on?"

"This… could be bad…" Ken whispered, oblivious to Chance's concern. "Is that…?"

"Yes," Rau concurred. "Another like us. Another with our level of spatial awareness is out here… which means the ZAFT defenders may be in rather more trouble than we anticipated, Falcon. If they have _that_ type of mobile armor…"

"I know." The ex-ZAFT ace rubbed his eyepatch in thought. "It's a variable I hadn't anticipated…"

"Would someone mind explaining what's going on?" Chance demanded, exasperated. "What are you two talking about, anyway?"

Ken shook himself. "Sorry, Jason. It seems we have a bit of an additional complication here: Rau and I both sense another of our kind here, just like Mu and I used to sense Rau's presence during the War, and vise-versa. That means there's someone in the area with our level of spatial awareness… someone who can use remote weapons."

Chance's face tightened. "We hadn't planned for that."

"No, we hadn't," Rau agreed. "Falcon? What do you intend to do now? Any mass-produced mobile suit will be nothing but cannon fodder if they've brought an Exus with them."

"I know." Ken rubbed his eyepatch for several more moments. "Which means… we have to take action a little sooner than we'd planned. Jason, is _my_ Exus ready?"

Chance nodded. "Since shortly after we got word of the attack, Major. Should I inform the hangar you'll be launching shortly?"

"Yes, you should." The ace was already heading for the bridge hatch. "And while you're at it, tell the mechanics to hurry up with the maser rifle calibrations; I don't want to be stuck using that mobile armor any longer than I have to."

"Understood, Major."

Rau stood, and caught Ken's shoulder before he could leave. "Are you sure you're ready for this, Falcon?" he asked, too quietly for anyone else to hear. "You haven't flown combat since Second Jachin… and you nearly died there, four times over. After fighting Kira, enduring a blast from GENESIS, protecting _Archangel_ from a positron cannon, and destroying GENESIS, as well as crippling Providence… are you certain you can handle it again?"

Ken turned his left eye toward his old rival, gazing at him with his hidden, silver-lined eye. "You don't think I can, do you?" he said softly. "You think that I've lost something along the way."

"I'm saying it's a distinct possibility," Rau said unflinchingly. "A normal man would've broken under the weight of the burden you carried for over a year; certainly anyone else would've snapped after everything you experienced at Jachin." His eyes, a lighter blue than Ken's own, bored into his commander's. "I once walked the path of madness… can you say for sure that you'll not tread the same path, if you throw yourself back into conflict?"

"Once, I couldn't have," Ken admitted quietly. "I will be the first to admit I nearly succumbed to insanity toward the end there… but as terrible as Jachin was, it is also what cleansed me of that obsession. I learned there the price of pride when Sparky sacrificed himself… and now I have something to come back to, every time I go out there."

The older man nodded slowly. "You'd better remember that, then; I don't want to have to tell Murrue Ramius that the Grimaldi Falcon isn't coming back."

The ace half-smiled. "First of all, _you_ wouldn't be telling her at all; I don't think she trusts you yet, so it would probably be best if someone else did it. And second… I'm not the Grimaldi Falcon anymore. His final action was at Jachin Due; since then, he's faded away, become the stuff of history… or legends, as I suppose some ZAFT soldiers would say. No, today I'm just Ken DiFalco, callsign Möbius One. Just an ordinary soldier, not the legend that emerged from the Battle of Endymion." He lifted his chin, with just a trace of pride. "Just a man, nothing more… and nothing less."

Rau smiled slowly. "I understand. In that case, you'd better get going, 'Möbius One'; there does appear to be a situation that requires your attention."

"Agreed." With another nod, Ken entered the elevator… and prepared to return to the battlefield once again.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Flight Deck

* * *

Luna set her damaged ZAKU down on the deck with a feeling of profound relief. She still wasn't pleased about having to sit out the battle, but the flight back to _Minerva_ had been tricky enough to leave her grateful to just be able to land.

_If it weren't for that debris clogging my thrusters,_ she thought in annoyance, _I wouldn't have had to retreat in the first place… Well, next time will be better. Even the best pilots have bad days, after all._ She grimaced. _Even if this one is _unusually_ bad…_

Powering down her mobile suit, Luna unstrapped, opened the hatch, and lowered herself to the deck. Since she was out of the action anyway, she figured she might as well get some rest; more than likely, she'd be needed to launch again if they managed to repair her ZAKU in time, so it was probably best to get some rest first.

She'd just walked over to a bulkhead, leaning against it for a moment's rest, when a side hatch into the flight deck opened, and Chairman Gilbert Durandal stepped in, looking like a man in a hurry. He did not, apparently, even notice the young pilot before disappearing out the opposite side of the flight deck, but Luna most definitely took note of _his_ presence.

_I wonder what the Chairman's doing here,_ she thought, puzzled. _Is he here to direct the battle personally, or did his guards just finally convince him to get to shelter? Either way… this could be interesting.  
_

* * *

Armory One, Interior

* * *

"Now we have them!" Shinn radioed, savage satisfaction evident in his tone as the three ZAFT machines caught up with the stolen units at last. "Now we can finish the job."

"Agreed," Millenia concurred, drawing her preferred beam sword again and igniting the crimson blade with relish. "But don't get cocky, Shinn; overconfidence will get you killed in short order on the real battlefield."

"After all," Rey added in agreement, "they have phase-shift-equipped three prototypes to our two; that gives them a slight advantage in numbers."

"It won't be enough," Shinn insisted stubbornly. "We can take them."

"Oh, I never doubted that," Millenia agreed. "You two received high marks for combat ability in the Academy, and I'm a veteran of more than a few battles myself. Nonetheless, caution is the order of the day if you want to live. That said…" She snapped up her blade in a classic katana-style stance. "Let's get them."

"Them again," Sting muttered, exasperated. "And we can't count on Stellar right now, with her block word in action…"

"I didn't exactly have a choice," Auel said defensively. "We needed to get moving right away, not when she was done playing."

"I know, I know… We'll just have to make the most of it." Whirling to face the ZAFT machines, Sting deployed his gunbarrels, sending one after Impulse and the other toward the Strike Noir; it was the only way he was going to be able to deal with both opponents at once, especially since the stolen Strike Noir appeared to be piloted by a veteran. Out of practice, yes, but still a veteran.

To his credit, Shinn required no instructions from his nominal superior before scattering, breaking toward his right to dodge a spray of emerald fire from the gunbarrel's beam assault cannon. _It won't be that easy!_ he thought fiercely. _But before I deal with you, let's get the Gaia out of the way…_

Gaia was still simply fleeing them, its pilot still in the grip of unearthly terror, which made the machine a very tempting target indeed… a temptation Shinn willingly succumbed to, tossing both his beam boomerangs at it. At this point, he wasn't so concerned with retrieving them perfectly intact; after everything that had happened, it was more important to make sure the thieves didn't escape.

"Not happening!" Auel said through gritted teeth, boosting to his left to let the Strike Noir blaze past, its blade merely melting a shallow groove in his right fin instead of removing it completely. "Try this, instead!" His fins spread, and once again the multiple emerald beams from his triple cannons speared out, lashing the boomerangs with harsh green fire, melting them away before they could get anywhere near Gaia.

Shinn cursed. _They're better than I thought. Still, this isn't over yet!_ Separating his combined blade into the original pair of Excalibur swords, he wielded one in each hand, and rushed the Chaos, while Rey moved to take his place in chasing the Gaia. "Try this," he grunted, and slashed viciously in an X-shape cut.

The tactic proved to be a mistake; Sting managed to ignite a beam saber before Impulse reached him, and the angle of the attack allowed him to block both blades with his own fiery weapon. "Nice… try…" Sting said through gritted teeth. "But… it'll get you nowhere!" He withdrew his blade then, allowing Impulse's weapons to pass through empty air, and went on the offensive himself with a lunge.

Abyss, meanwhile, was giving Millenia fits, using its lance's longer reach to stymie her efforts to get close. "If I could just get _within_ his weapon's reach," she muttered, "this would be over in an instant. Note to self: after this is over, track down Falcon, and get a refresher course in kendo…" She lashed out again with her blade, only to have it barely nudged aside by Abyss' lance, and she uttered a curse she'd heard her mentor snarl during the Bloody Valentine.

"When this is over," Auel muttered, as frustrated as his opponent, "we need to track down and destroy Section Nine. If they hadn't stolen the 105E and given it to ZAFT, then this wouldn't be _happening!"_

Rey still wasn't having any luck with Gaia –it appeared that raw panic was giving its pilot preternatural reaction time, thus frustrating his attempts to either close with it or shoot it- and Shinn was getting more than a little fed up with the Chaos. _This equipment loadout isn't doing the job,_ he thought. _I need more maneuverability…_ _"Minerva,"_ he called, "I need the Force Silhouette; the Sword isn't maneuverable enough, and I've already lost my boomerangs."

On his screen, Talia nodded. _"Understood, Shinn. Meyrin, have the Force Silhouette sent out immediately."_

"_Yes, Ma'am!"_

"I'll cover you until it arrives," Millenia told the younger pilot. "Got it?"

Shinn bristled instinctively. "I don't need-"

"It's what my first mentor would've done for me," she interrupted, placing light emphasis on the word "mentor". "Do you get my drift?"

The obsidian-haired pilot hesitated, catching the thinly-veiled reference to Ken DiFalco, then nodded.

"Understood, Commander," he said reluctantly. "But I can still handle Chaos until then. Just keep Abyss off me for a while."

Millenia nodded in agreement. "Concur. Resuming engagement." _Psych warfare,_ she thought to herself, using her blade to swat aside Abyss' lance. _Just like Sensei taught me… though I bet Falcon would be amused if he knew I just got that hotheaded kid to cooperate by using his own idolizing of the Grimaldi Falcon against him…_

That was one thing she didn't quite understand, she reflected, unleashing a vicious diagonal slash in an attempt to cut the head off Abyss' beam lance. She knew Shinn's family had been killed in Orb, only hours before Muruta Azrael unleashed nuclear weapons against the nation… so why did he hold Ken DiFalco in such high esteem? It was his actions that had resulted, however indirectly, in the scorching of Orb; his actions there had frightened Azrael into pushing the button, after Morgenroete and the Kaguya mass driver were destroyed. So… why did the former leader of the Gray Demons rank so highly in Shinn's view?

_Perhaps because they're both rogues, _Millenia mused, smiling with brief, savage satisfaction as her blade of frozen fire finally sheared through the tip of the lance, removing the beam emitter from the shaft and thus reducing it to a very awkward, mobile suit-sized quarterstaff. _One thing that marked Falcon's career was his willingness to break the rules when he had to… and his convictions were strong enough that he even broke with ZAFT, when he found himself in fundamental opposition to their policies._

_Oh, Sensei, where are you_ now,_ when the PLANTs need you again?_

A smothered curse caught her attention, and she turned in time to see Shinn boosting hastily away from Chaos, raising his shield at the same time. The stolen machine wasn't to be deterred, though, and sent its gunbarrels in… and fired, before Impulse could interpose its shield.

Another curse, this one somewhat louder, crackled over the radio, as Impulse's antiship swords were struck dead on by bursts of emerald energy. One of them snapped in half at the hilt, its beam flickering out of existence, while the other was struck midway between hilt and tip, melting through and ruining the delicate system that kept the beam blade alive.

Smothering yet another curse, Shinn let the blade go… and then, to Sting's surprise, ejected his backpack. "What is he-?"

From behind, the black and red shape of a flight unit streaked toward Impulse, riding an unmanned flyer. Once it got within several meters of the machine, the flyer detached… and a laser-lock system caught hold of the flight unit, pulling it snugly onto Impulse's back.

The mobile suit's torso shifted from overall red to blue, and Shinn Asuka smiled.

Sting was beginning to understand that suddenly, all was not well, but the ZAFT pilot gave him no chance to act on that understanding. With a wordless snarl, he poured energy into Impulse's thrusters, rushing straight for Chaos… just as Auel, turning to face the altered threat, charged his fin-mounted cannons and chest-mounted Callidus.

"Auel, watch it-!" Sting started to warn, but he was too late.

Impulse rammed bodily into Chaos, jolting the pilot inside… and forcing Chaos itself into Abyss, just as Auel pulled the trigger.

Instead of obliterating Impulse as planned, Auel's torrent of red-orange and emerald fire flashed right past, narrowly missing the still-panicking Gaia, and smashed into the colony's outer wall. The tough material, intended to stand up to the rigors of space –including micrometeorites of various sizes- stood up to the intense bombardment for several fractions of a second, but it was more energy than it was designed to handle, and less than a second into the event it simply failed, crumbling and melting under the assault.

Crumbling into a hole large enough for mobile suits to traverse.

Gaia was the first to make for the hole, Stellar still desperately seeking escape, but Sting and Auel weren't far behind. Gratefully abandoning their battle with the ZAFT machines, they funneled all discretionary power into their verniers, and blazed out of the colony, followed by escaping atmosphere.

"They're getting away!" Shinn snarled, frustrated.

"Oh, no, they're not," Millenia said grimly. "Rey, Shinn, we're going after them. They may have greater mobility out there than in here, but unless they have a ship standing by, we still have time to catch up."

"…Right," the hotheaded pilot agreed, taking a deep breath. "We can still catch them…"

"Yes," Rey agreed. "We've still got a chance to complete the mission."

The three mobile suits fired their own thrusters, and followed their enemies out into open space.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

_So now they're outside the colony itself,_ Meyrin thought worriedly, taking in the telemetry from the three ZAFT units, displayed on her monitor. _Outside the colony… and beyond reach for resupply. That's not good; even Commander Crescent's not good enough to fight without any power…_

"Captain," she called, "Rey, Shinn, and Commander Crescent have exited the colony in pursuit of the stolen prototypes. However, Impulse has only three hundred seconds of power remaining, and Strike Noir slightly less. I don't think they can continue at this rate, Ma'am."

Talia nodded. "Thank you, Meyrin." _Hm… she's right about one thing: that's not enough energy for a sustained engagement, which is what this is starting to look like._ "Can you contact Commander Crescent?" she asked after a moment.

Meyrin shook her head. "Negative, Ma'am. Telemetry's still coming through fine, but there's too much interference to punch audio communications through."

"Understood." _I wish I didn't have to, though; having an experienced mobile suit pilot's opinion on this would be helpful… but I guess it can't be helped._ Talia nodded to herself. "In that case, we have only one choice. Malik, prepare to launch _Minerva._"

"Yes, Ma'am," helmsman Malik Yardbirds replied immediately, and bent to his task with industry. It was a day ahead of schedule, but the ship was ready nonetheless; the next day's ceremony would've been little more than a formality.

"Meyrin," the captain continued, "get in touch with Harbor Control, and let them know our intentions."

"On it, Captain."

As her crew busily prepared for launch, Talia nodded to herself again. _I doubt any ZAFT ship has launched this hastily since _Arkbird, Eternal,_ and_ Asmodeus_ broke out two years ago… but at least we can still do it._ She was more ambivalent about DiFalco than some of her crew –most notably Shinn- but even she was willing to grant that his actions had, without doubt, been a major factor in the survival of the PLANTs, whether she technically agreed with them or not.

Now, she'd simply continue in the ZAFT tradition, and do her best to achieve victory once again.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Flight Deck

* * *

Her ZAKU having been hauled into the ship's hangar for repairs, Luna was simply resting in the flight deck, waiting for her machine to be ready again, when another mobile suit unexpectedly approached. _Huh?_ she thought, straightening. _A ZAKU Warrior? But all _Minerva_'s ZAKUs are accounted for, except for Rey's Phantom…_

Eyes narrowing in sudden suspicion, she walked quickly to a weapons rack, and snatched up a standard-issue ZAFT automatic rifle. _Someone within ZAFT had to have been involved with the attack, or else those thieves couldn't have gotten in at all. If they're here to try and take out this ship, too…_

If that were the case, she had no intention of giving them the opportunity.

Within the ZAKU, Kira sighed in relief, initiating the machine's power-down sequence. "We made it," he said quietly. "We should be safe, now that we're aboard."

"Yeah," Cagalli agreed. "But if it's all the same to you, I'd like to get out, _then_ enjoy being alive. It's a little cramped back here, you know."

He coughed lightly. "Oh… right…" Quickly finishing the sequence, he unstrapped, popped open the hatch, and let her precede him into the open space of _Minerva_'s flight deck.

_A bit different from _Archangel_'s flight deck,_ Kira reflected, following Cagalli down. _Still, there's enough similarities that they must've borrowed from combat data of their battles with us. Well, they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…_

"Don't move."

They both froze instantly, surprised by the cold voice, and Kira's gaze darted to where it had come from. There stood a violet-haired young woman in a ZAFT red uniform… and in her hands, she carried what was quite clearly an automatic rifle, of a type he recalled seeing Ken practice with once or twice, after the War.

The expression on her face showed that she was quite willing to use it.

"My name is Lunamaria Hawke," the redcoat introduced herself, gaze never flickering. "Who are you?"

Kira slowly straightened, his hand falling innocently close to his belt… and the wakizashi attached to it. He didn't have his mentor's knack for muscle-reading –or deflecting bullets based on that reading- but he knew how to use it… if he had to. "My companion is Chief Representative Cagalli Yula Athha," he said carefully. "We were meeting with Chairman Durandal when the attack began. We came here looking for safety, and, if possible, to continue our meeting with the Chairman."

"That's right," Cagalli agreed, following her boyfriend's lead; under the circumstances, particularly since ZAFT was theoretically on _their_ side, the truth was clearly the way to go. "Is Chairman Durandal currently aboard?"

Luna's gaze flicked to her for a moment, then returned to Kira. "First thing's first," she said in reply. "I want to know _your_ name."

Kira sighed; he'd been hoping not to get into that. His name attracted too much attention these days… _But I don't really have a choice. Should help smooth things over, anyway._ He cleared his throat. "My name is Yamato, Commander Kira Yamato, Orb Mobile Suit Corps Reserve."

Luna's eyes widened, and she immediately lowered the rifle. "_The_ Kira Yamato?" she said in surprise. "Pilot of the Freedom? The hero of Jachin Due?"

"One of them," he admitted, shadows passing through his eyes. "The real heroes, though, were the ones who never made it back…"

The ZAFT pilot didn't appear fazed by the disclaimed, instead coming to attention. "An honor to meet you, Commander," she said sincerely.

Kira shrugged uncomfortably. "Likewise," he managed. "But, uh, about our request…?"

Luna relaxed her stiff posture, and nodded sharply. "Of course. I'll contact the bridge… in a few minutes," she amended. "No offense, Commander, My Lady, but _Minerva_ is about to launch; now probably isn't a good time."

"We understand, Miss Hawke," Cagalli assured her. "We both spent a lot of time on warships during the War, ourselves. Ken's organization might've been more informal than most militaries, but not _that_ informal."

Something passed through the younger woman's eyes at that, something neither Orb visitor could identify. "Commander DiFalco…" she murmured. "Is he even still alive?"

Kira nodded. "Yeah. He hasn't flown since the War, though; these days, he's busy helping Orb recover from the nuclear attack, two years ago."

"I see…" Luna shook herself. "Well, I'll send your request up to the bridge once we've launched; until then, I suggest you find someplace sit. It could be a little rough… and if you were in the ZAKU Rey and I saw leaving the battle area, I'm guessing you're both a little tired."

"You can say that again," Cagalli said fervently. "Especially after spending all that time sandwiched into the back of the cockpit."

* * *

Outside Armory One

* * *

His mobile armor pressed against the outer skin of Armory One itself, Neo smiled to himself. He'd already seen his pilots make good their return to _Girty Lue,_ which meant all he had to do now was buy them a little more time.

_Like clockwork,_ he thought in satisfaction. _Except for the appearance of Strike Noir, everything's gone according to plan. Now, I just need to wait for… Aha…_

Under his watchful eyes, three more mobile suits emerged from the makeshift exit his pilots had created… each of them exactly what he'd expected. The fourth prototype, the Strike Noir, and a simple ZAKU Phantom. _Overconfident,_ Neo concluded. _I doubt I can defeat all three all by myself, but keep them busy? Child's play…_

Smiling to himself, he ignited his thrusters, and dove away from the colony wall.

Rey was the first to react to the threat, his gaze snapping up as his head filled with a strange sensation. "Incoming!" he snapped. "Mobile armor, nine o'clock high."

"I see it," Millenia responded, turning to meet the incoming. "Shinn, Rey, let's take it."

"Roger that," Shinn said instantly, kicking in his thrusters to snap-roll his machine around. He lifted his rifle at the same time, smiling coldly. "Now we've got you!"

Neo shook his head, smiling thinly at the quick reactions of the ZAFT pilots. "Quick," he murmured, opening fire with the twin linear cannons mounted on his mobile armor's nose, "but not quick enough. Your very reactions mark two of you as rookies, and the third as- What?" His gaze snapped up, a strange sensation filling his own skull… and then his eyes narrowed as a transmission came from the oncoming, slate-gray copy of his own machine.

"This is Möbius One," it said coldly. "Enemy in sight… now engaging."

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

Chaos continues to spread throughout the area surrounding Armory One… but as Kira and Cagalli find shelter, the battle moves outside the colony, as the three stolen prototypes make good their mistake. Now, as _Minerva_ prepares to enter the fray, the ace once called the Grimaldi Falcon returns to the battlefield once again…

Hm… I suppose it's been a little while since my last update, but I'm afraid it was unavoidable; this part of the story is giving me almost as much trouble as it did in A Call to Arms. However, Chapter 3 should be rather more interesting… and that's when you'll all get to find out the exact nature of Ken and Millenia's past service together.

At any rate, I expect people will be pleased with this update being ready in the first place; unlike with A Call to Arms, I doubt I'll need to finish my primary project before getting very far in this one. For now, though, let me know what you think. –Solid Shark


	3. Chapter 3: Shadows of the Past

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

* * *

Outside Armory One

* * *

Neo Roanoke gazed at his new opponent through narrowed eyes. Despite being a "mere" mobile armor, he knew better than to underestimate; like his own craft, it was an Exus… and painted slate-gray. Combined with the transmission, that meant it could only be one person.

"The mysterious 'Major'," he murmured. "So… Section Nine's leader is here in person, hmm? I'm impressed…"

The trio of ZAFT pilots were, if anything, even more surprised than Neo. "Why is Section Nine getting involved?" Shinn wondered, dodging to his left as one of Neo's still-active gunbarrels spat emerald fire at him. "And what is Möbius One doing here?"

Millenia's reaction was rather different. "Möbius One…" she whispered. "I don't know the voice… but the speech pattern…" She inhaled sharply. "Could it really be…?"

"I'm giving you exactly one chance to surrender," Möbius One said coldly. "You are in violation of the Junius Treaty; if you do not either surrender or retreat, I'll destroy you."

Neo shook his head. _He thinks I'm actually going to do that… or fall for his little trick? Hah. As if he'd actually let us go now that we have the prototypes…_ "No," he murmured aloud, "I'm afraid I can't do that." Feeding power into his thrusters, he rushed toward his mirror-image, directing his gunbarrels to watch his back while he targeted the Section Nine craft with his linear cannons.

In his cockpit, Ken DiFalco –currently known as Möbius One- shook his head. "I can sense you, you know," he whispered to himself. "Your attack won't be nearly so effective against _me…_ Well, on your own head be it."

As Neo rushed for him, Ken boosted his own thrusters, meeting the charge, while sending out his own gunbarrels to attack… and as they crossed paths, they opened fire simultaneously, attempting to skewer each other with high-velocity slugs and, in Ken's case, blasts of emerald fire.

To the surprise of both, as they each twisted their mobile armors into violent evasive patterns, neither was even scorched by the exchange.

_He's good,_ Neo admitted to himself, snap-rolling and coming around to face his opponent again. _I guess they didn't choose him to lead Section Nine for nothing. I wonder… which ZAFT ace were you, during the War? What was your name, before you became the symbol?_

_I don't believe it,_ Ken thought, mirroring Neo's recovery. _Whoever this guy is, he's no ordinary pilot. And something about him… seems familiar…_

"We can't leave him to fight alone," Millenia informed her teammates, her gaze locked on the battle. "Assist Möbius One at once."

"Right," Shinn agreed; he didn't argue in any small part because he badly wanted to finish the job himself. _Section Nine… they're useful, but this is _our_ fight, not theirs._

"Understood," Rey said calmly, while drawing a bead on a gunbarrel which even now persisted in harassing him. "Four on one… it should be enough."

Neo, noticing the mobile suits coming to join them, smiled to himself. "Three mobile suits and a mobile armor? Well, now… this should be an interesting challenge." He kicked his Exus' nose up, rolled over… and opened the missile launcher mounted behind his cockpit.

Ken swore, broke hard right, and directed his gunbarrels to blast the offending missiles before they could reach him; at the same time, Millenia slapped a gunbarrel aside by blocking its beam blade with her own, while Shinn and Rey dodged to either side as the remaining three came at them, firing emerald darts from their rifles in an attempt to blast them apart.

"Any idea who this pilot is, Möbius One?" Millenia radioed. "These moves…"

Ken hesitated for a bare instant. _That voice… is it her…?_ "Negative," he said aloud. "I've only ever fought two pilots like this, and both of them are accounted for." He rolled left, and cursed under his breath as the enemy Exus spun through another barrage of emerald darts from his gunbarrels without even being scratched. "Whoever this fellow is, he's impressive."

What he didn't add was that he mostly found it impressive in light of his own presence and that of Strike Noir's pilot; from what he knew of the other two pilots supporting them, he placed little stock in their abilities. _Rookies are useless until proven otherwise,_ he told himself. _Good for drawing fire, but they're not experienced enough for this kind of fight…_

As the battle continued to rage between the five mobile weapons, _Minerva_ emerged into space behind them.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"Five mobile weapons and one warship on scanners, Captain," _Minerva_'s detection officer, Bart Heim, reported. "Warship is confirmed to be firing on our forces."

Talia Gladys nodded. "Understood. Designate the warship as Bogey One, and prepare to engage. Meanwhile… Meyrin, what's the status of Shinn, Rey, and Commander Crescent? Are they still tracking the stolen prototypes?"

Meyrin Hawke consulted her displays for a moment, then shook her head. "Negative, Captain. No sign of any of the three captured units; all I'm reading are Impulse, Strike Noir, Rey's Phantom… and a pair of mobile armors, two of the same type." She tapped commands into her console, and winced. "Our units currently can't be contacted due to radio interference, Captain."

Talia sighed. "Very well. Arthur, lower the bridge into battle position; Malik, take us in toward Bogey One." She glanced over her shoulder at Meyrin. "So the current opposition facing our units consists of a pair of mobile armors?"

"Looks like it, Captain; two Exus units. They're- wait a second." Meyrin frowned, calling up detailed transponder information. "Data update, Captain: only one Exus is an enemy. The other is broadcasting a Section Nine IFF, and identifies its pilot as Möbius One."

"The Major himself," Gilbert Durandal noted with some surprise, stepping onto the bridge. "He's not exactly known for entering battle personally."

"Not much is known about him at all," Talia reminded him, keeping her gaze focused on Bogey One. "It _is_ known, though, that he was a ZAFT pilot during the War; obviously, he hasn't lost his touch."

"Obviously," he agreed. "So, you're not going to attempt to retrieve the stolen units first?" he added, nodding at the display.

"No. If they're aboard Bogey One now, we'll need to lure it closer before we can engage them effectively; otherwise we're more likely to take them out along with the entire ship." She glanced over her shoulder at Meyrin. "Meyrin, see if you can reach _Odin;_ assuming you can get through the interference, inform them of our situation. This incident certainly falls under their charter, so they may intervene directly."

"Understood, Captain. I'll try."

Durandal nodded slowly. "We've no other ships of our own in position, so that's a good idea, Captain. I'm sure we could use the assistance, especially if there should be any more enemy ships hiding in this vicinity."

"That's exactly what I'm thinking of," Talia agreed. "_Minerva_ should be more than enough to handle Bogey One, but we might be in trouble if there's more than one of them out here." She nodded to Chen Jian Yee, her fire-control officer. "Engage the enemy, Chen."

"Yes, Ma'am." Yee obediently activated the fire plan he'd programmed moments earlier, and fire erupted from _Minerva_'s weapons.

The plan he'd devised, based on Talia's stated intentions, launched a salvo of Neidhardt antiship missiles from _Minerva_'s numerous launchers, and spat a barrage of emerald fire from the pair of twin-barrel Tristan beam cannons. This first beam attack wasn't intended to actually strike Bogey One; as Talia had said, taking out the entire ship would also destroy the very units they were attempting to retrieve.

The antiship missiles, however, were another matter entirely.

* * *

Outside Armory One

* * *

Neo noted the attack, glanced back toward his ship, and promptly ignored the matter completely. _Those beams won't be directed at them quite yet,_ he thought to himself, spiraling through a sheet of emerald energy from his doppelganger's gunbarrels, _and the missiles are inconsequential. My job right now… is to stay alive._

Warding off an emerald dart from one of Neo's gunbarrels, Shinn cursed, and yanked out a beam saber. "I've had enough," he snarled to his teammates, bringing the blade of frozen fire to life. He didn't know how the enemy pilot could possibly be directing his wireless gunbarrels at three separate targets while simultaneously engaging in a running dogfight with an identical mobile armor, but it was beginning to wear on his nerves.

"You're not the only one getting irritated," Millenia assured him. "All right, then. Rey, let's take out those gunbarrels; Shinn, you assist Möbius One directly."

"Roger that!" Shinn had no objection to that; if anything, he wanted the enemy mobile armor all to himself. Without hesitation, he boosted toward the dogfight, saber ready to split the enemy in half.

Strike Noir's pilot shook her head. _He's got the taste for battle, I'll grant him that. I wonder, though… how would he feel if he knew just who it is he's about to be assisting…assuming I'm right about "Möbius One's" identity in the first place?_

Abandoning such pointless thoughts, Millenia put away her beam sword, lifted her "Shorty" beam rifles, and targeted the first gunbarrel. Her enhanced eyes tracked the remote weapon carefully… and then, before her brain registered the proper instant, her body reacted, pulling the triggers on her control sticks.

A pair of emerald darts speared across vacuum, slammed into the gunbarrel, and tore it apart.

Neo's head snapped up, momentarily distracted from another attack run against Möbius One. _That's no ordinary pilot,_ he realized. _Those reactions… Could it be that one? The Black Widow…_

Ken took advantage of his enemy's brief distraction, and unleashed a full barrage from his gunbarrels, missile launchers, and fuselage-mounted linear cannons…only to see them all miss completely, as the opposing Exus flipped over in a punishing nine-G reversal, and accelerated straight _at_ the incoming assault, using his own missiles, on proximity detonation, to shield himself. With all the shrapnel flying out from the self-destructed missiles, Ken's beams wasted themselves, his missiles committed mass suicide, and his linear cannons' shells simply streaked off into space, missing the enemy Exus completely as it blew past him.

_How on earth did he _do_ that?_ Section Nine's commander wondered, truly startled now. _I've never seen any other human being with that level of situational awareness; not even Mu or Rau. Where were they hiding this guy during the War?_

Shaking it off, he kicked his machine around, recalled his gunbarrels, and charged off in pursuit again.

Ignoring the dogfight completely, Rey jockeyed his Phantom around, using random evasive maneuvers to force his chosen target to waste its beams, sending them to either journey to the stars, or spatter against his shoulder-mounted shields.

Almost as though the machine was tired of the game, the gunbarrel ceased fire, then activated its twin beam saber, and rushed straight for the Phantom… but Rey was waiting for it to do exactly that.

His eyes narrowed, and he pulled the trigger. An instant later, his emerald dart smashed right through the remote weapon, and the gunbarrel erupted into shrapnel.

Neo cursed softly to himself. "These guys are a little better than I gave them credit for… though I expect they're thinking the same thing about me just now. They haven't won this yet…" Sending his remaining two gunbarrels to engage the Phantom and Strike Noir, he flipped over again, preparing to meet his pursuer… and in that instant realized he'd forgotten the Impulse.

_I have you now!_ Shinn thought triumphantly, as the Exus' reversal carried it right at him. He lashed out with his beam saber, knowing the moment when the enemy would have to pass through its arc… and blinked in surprise when the moment never came.

Neo Roanoke hadn't been given his position for no reason. He knew when to push forward, when to be cautious… and when to fold. _Let's not be greedy,_ he decided, recalling his remaining gunbarrels and diving away from Shinn's attack. _My mission here is accomplished; time to retreat before _Odin_ gets into the action._

Leaving the battlefield behind, he streaked toward _Girty Lue,_ feeling satisfied with the outcome. "You're good," he said, addressing his opponents even though he knew they couldn't hear, "but not quite good enough. Till next time… amigos."

"Don't pursue him," Millenia said sharply, when Impulse showed signs of moving out. "First of all, none of us have much power left. Second, you try to get close, and that ship will blast you out of existence. Let him go… for now."

"…Understood, Commander." Shinn didn't like the order particularly, but he did acknowledge –silently- that the older woman had a point.

"Good work, all of you," Ken said over the radio, careful to use the voice distortion device built into the gasmask he wore beneath his helmet. "I don't know who that pilot was, but he was on level with the best pilots I saw during the War."

"Yeah," Shinn agreed. "Still, there were a few pilots who could've done it…"

"I know of only one," Ken said flatly, "and that is a fact I find disturbing. For the nonce, however, I believe you three need to return to your ship…and I need to board, as well. Chairman Durandal and I have much to discuss."

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"Shinn, Rey, and Commander Crescent are returning, Captain," Meyrin reported, glancing up form her console. "Also, Möbius One is requesting permission to come aboard himself, to discuss the current situation."

"Granted," Talia said absently, still watching the battle. "I'll want to speak to him as well. Chen," she went on, "target Tristans one Bogey One's engines; fire as soon as you have a firing solution."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Malik, lower bow twenty, right roll thirty degrees," she continued. "Execute!"

That last command had been given on pure instinct… an instinct that proved reliable, as a dozen streaks of emerald fire from Bogey One's cannons flashed past, scorching through the space _Minerva_ had occupied a moment earlier.

Then it was her turn.

Bogey One's captain clearly knew what he was doing; even as he fired his cannons, he'd already ordered an evasive of his own, and the enemy ship turned hard to port, letting _Minerva_'s return fire blaze past, almost –but not quite- ripping through her engines.

"That enemy has some skill," Durandal remarked. "Perhaps we're facing a veteran of the War."

Talia nodded, but before she could respond verbally, Meyrin spoke again. "Incoming transmission from _Odin,_ Captain; they appear to be unaffected by the jamming, and her commanding officer is asking to speak with you."

"Put him on," Talia instructed.

A moment later, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man in Section Nine gray appeared on the display. _"Captain Gladys, I'm Captain Jason Chance, Section Nine. I'd like to offer my ship's assistance in bringing down the enemy ship."_

She glanced over her shoulder at Durandal, received a nod, and turned back to Chance. "Thank you, Captain Chance. Your assistance will be appreciated." She raised an eyebrow. "I assume you're aware of the nature of the situation?"

Chance nodded. _"Yes, Commander Delaney and Commander Eldridge apprised us of the theft as it was happening, and gave full details when they returned aboard. Don't worry, we know not to blast the entire ship to atoms."_ His expression turned grim. _"I captained this ship back during the War, Captain Gladys; my immediate superior, Rear Admiral Halberton, is currently spending his retirement in the PLANTs. I, for one, do _not_ want to see a second Bloody Valentine War."_

Talia nodded back. "Agreed, Captain Chance. That's what we're here for." She glanced back over her shoulder. "Chen… continue the engagement."

* * *

_Girty Lue,_ Hangar

* * *

As his Exus powered down, Neo perceived his ship was currently in combat maneuvers, apparently evading a fresh attack from _Minerva._ "Can't have that," he said under his breath, popping his hatch. "If this keeps up, ZAFT is bound to get lucky eventually…"

There was no need to remain in that area any longer, the masked captain knew. Their objective had been achieved, as evidenced by the presence of a new trio of mobile suits in the hangar, so staying there any longer was an unnecessary risk.

Quickly making his way to an intercom panel, he thumbed it to life. "Ian, this is the Captain," he said calmly. "There's no need to remain in this area any longer; change course, and get us out of here immediately."

On the screen, Ian Lee nodded. _"Understood, Captain. Beginning withdrawal."_

"Jettison the propellant tanks while you're at it," Neo advised. "We don't need them any longer, and if we detonate them ourselves, the ZAFT ship –and _Odin-_ will be forced to break off the chase, at least briefly."

"_Yes, Sir. Commencing rearguard action."_

"Good. I'll be on the bridge shortly; Roanoke out."

Stepping away from the intercom, Neo turned and began making his way toward the bridge, his mood contemplative. _It all went smoothly,_ he reflected, _except for a minor delay… and that one pilot. However surprising the appearance of the Strike Noir was, it was easy enough to deal with, even though I'm pretty sure the Black Widow was in the cockpit. The rest went exactly according to plan, with the retrieval of those prototypes and everything else…_

_Except for that Section Nine pilot. Möbius One… who is he, and why did I have that reaction when he appeared?_ A moment before the slate-gray Exus had arrived, Neo had felt a peculiar sensation in his mind, and _knew_ someone was coming… but he didn't know _how_ he knew.

And he didn't know _who._ Whoever it was had, like the ZAFT pilots, been unable to land a direct hit on him… but Möbius One had come closer than Neo liked. Worse, perhaps, the man had clearly been surprised at Neo's own skill, marking him either as an overconfident fool –unlikely, considering Section Nine's apparent priority at the time of its founding- or a highly skilled pilot accustomed to success.

_I have to know,_ he decided. _If he comes after us again, I have to know who he is…  
_

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"Bogey One is reversing course, and breaking off the engagement, Captain," Heim reported. "All offensive activity seems to have ceased…"

Talia nodded. "Understood. Malik, remain on course; Chen, continue to engage. We're not letting them get away."

"_Be careful, Captain,"_ Chance warned over the radio. _"Something about this doesn't smell right, and my instincts were trained by a certain former member of your own organization."_

"I don't like it either," she said calmly, "but our mission is to retrieve-"

"Status change!" Heim interrupted. "Bogey One is ejecting what appear to be partially full propellant tanks!"

"Malik, hard to port!" Talia ordered immediately, realizing in an instant what the enemy warship had to be planning. "Chen, cease fire at once!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" the two officers replied as one, and _Minerva_'s fire died, while her helmsman wrenched the ship around to port… just as Bogey One opened fire one last time, targeting its own propellant tanks with rear-firing CIWS.

Whatever was in the tanks, it was clearly highly volatile. When Bogey One's point-defense weapons unleashing a torrent of bullets on them, they reacted almost instantly, tearing themselves apart in the flash of a giant fireball… one which would've consumed _Minerva_ had Talia and her helmsman not reacted so quickly.

By the time it faded, Bogey One was gone.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Hangar

* * *

Powering down the Impulse's Core Splendor, Shinn pulled off his helmet with a sigh. _Some first engagement,_ he thought sarcastically. _We launch to recapture three prototypes stolen right from under our noses… and they slip right by, thanks to a single mobile armor. The Grimaldi Falcon wouldn't be proud of his old organization today…_

Sighing, he climbed out of the cockpit, and was met by Vino Dupre and Yolant Kent, two of the ship's mechanics. "You okay, Shinn?" Vino asked. "Pretty rough out there, looked like hell."

"Yeah," Yolant agreed, and glanced off toward another corner of the hangar, where Millenia Crescent was exiting her mobile suit… and the hatch of the slate-gray Exus was opening. "By the way… who's the guy in the mobile armor? Isn't that the same type you were fighting?"

"I'm okay, Vino," Shinn answered, replying to Vino first. "Yolant, I don't really know. He's with Section Nine, but beyond that…"

"He's Möbius One," Millenia informed them both, drifting over; her gaze, however, was still focused on the Exus. "That's his callsign, anyway; his real name is unknown. He usually goes simply by his rank, so everybody calls him 'The Major'."

"That's right," the electronically-distorted voice of Möbius One said, as he pulled himself out of the Exus. "So that's what you can call me: Major."

Shinn and the two mechanics –joined by Rey, as he pulled himself out of his own cockpit- turned to look at the enigmatic pilot. Dressed in a slate-gray flightsuit, he'd left his helmet in his mobile armor… yet his face was still concealed, by the antique German gasmask fitted over his head.

"So, _you're_ the Major everyone talks about," Millenia remarked, watching him carefully. "Section Nine's mysterious leader…"

The Major inclined his head. "That's correct," he confirmed. "And… would I be right in speculating you're the _real_ Millenia Crescent?"

Her expression remained unchanged, but behind her eyes her thoughts were racing. _Only one person would ask like that,_ Millenia thought. _Only one person would even care… and that one person is the only one who could've fought that Exus in such a way. I doubt even the great Kira Yamato could've pulled _that_ off._

"That's right," she said finally, ignoring the confused looks her fellow ZAFT soldiers were giving her. "Sometimes known better as the 'Black Widow', especially by those who trained with me… or the one who taught me in the first place."

"The Grimaldi Falcon," the Major acknowledged. "Either ZAFT's greatest hero, or greatest traitor, depending on who you ask."

Rey, knowing what was likely coming, glanced at his fellow pilot, shrugged, and headed out of the hangar… and, as he'd expected, Shinn promptly spoke up. "What's _your_ opinion of Commander DiFalco, Major?"

"That he was just a man," the Major said promptly, "trying to do his job as he thought best. Whether his decision to fight against ZAFT was right or wrong, the simple fact is that his actions led directly to the destruction of Patrick Zala's GENESIS… and, right or wrong, he did what he believed was right." Turning back to Millenia, he changed the subject. "Commander Crescent, I'd like to meet with Chairman Durandal as soon as possible."

Millenia gazed at him appraisingly for several moments. _Yes, I'm sure now that it's you, Sensei, whatever disguise you may choose to wear. Fine… I'll let you continue your charade a little longer. _"Of course, Major," she said smoothly. "I'll see about arranging a meeting at once. In the meantime, please, follow me."

She motioned toward the exit, and the Major silently followed her out.

"So," Vino remarked, once they were gone, "that was Section Nine's commander, huh? Creepy guy, with that cold attitude… and what's with the mask, anyway?"

"Antique gasmask," Yolant said promptly. "Second World War vintage, back in the mid-twentieth century; supposedly he wears it to hide his identity, and protect himself from assassination by gas." He smirked at Shinn. "Shoulda known you'd ask him about the Grimaldi Falcon. Why're you so interested in the guy, anyway?"

"He's ZAFT's greatest hero," Shinn pointed out, crimson eyes flashing. "And the first ZAFT soldier with the guts to fight against Zala."

"Matter of opinion," Vino retorted. "He also has the highest kill score of any ZAFT ace… and a lot of them, toward the end, were other ZAFT pilots. Not hard to understand why some people call the guy a murderous traitor."

The pilot snorted. "People who say that have never met the man."

The two mechanics blinked, glanced at each other, and turned as one to stare at their friend. "You've _met_ the Grimaldi Falcon?" Yolant said in surprise. "You never mentioned that before!"

Shinn shrugged. "It was only briefly, and he probably doesn't remember it himself. We passed each other on the street when he was in Orb two years ago, before everything blew up; I didn't know at the time who _he_ was, either, but when I heard his description later, especially the eyepatch, I knew it was him. And if you ask me, I say he regretted every ZAFT life he ever took."

Vino rolled his eyes. "Yeah, _sure…"_ He didn't argue the point further, though; he wasn't much of a deep-thinker, but even he realized every soldier had heroes, and Shinn's was apparently just more controversial than most.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"Well, I guess it's over… for now," Talia said with a sigh, leaning back into her chair as the bridge resumed normal operations.

"Yes," Durandal agreed. "An inspired tactic on their part… worthy of the Grimaldi Falcon, if I'm any judge of military operations."

"I wish I didn't agree with you," she said with a grimace. "And I hope it was a rare flash of insight, or just dumb luck; the idea of facing someone of DiFalco's caliber doesn't sit well with me. ZAFT's not had an equal to him since the Desert Tiger deserted and Rau Le Creuset died at Jachin."

"Mm. Perhaps so; but that would also tend to indicate, I think, that such tacticians are rare. The odds of this enemy having someone like him with them…"

"Hopefully low, yes," Talia agreed with a nod. "That's not something we should be worrying about right now, though. In fact, Chairman, I would suggest you get some rest. I'm afraid we're not going to have the chance to drop you off before we begin the pursuit."

Durandal waved a hand. "Don't worry about it, Captain. I fully understand; retaking or destroying those prototypes is a greater priority than getting one politician back to his job. Besides, there wasn't much I could do from Armory One anyway, given the distance from the Homeland."

"Your understanding is appreciated, Chairman." She nodded at Rey, who had arrived on the bridge during the conversation. "Rey, please escort the Chairman to a cabin… and then get some rest yourself. We seem to have some time before things heat up again."

The pilot nodded. "Yes, Ma'am." He saluted the Chairman respectfully. "If you'll follow me, Your Excellency?"

"Yes, of course."

Before the two had exited the bridge, though, a voice from Talia's intercom gave Durandal pause. _"Captain, this is Lunamaria. Now that the battle seems to be over, I believe I should report something that happened earlier."_

Talia tilted her head, curious. "Go ahead, Luna."

"_Well,"_ the young pilot said carefully, _"just before we left the harbor, a ZAKU Warrior landed in the hangar, carrying two people claiming to be Chief Representative Athha and her bodyguard, a Commander Kira Yamato."_

Durandal paused, listening. _Lady Cagalli… and Kira Yamato? So… they made it aboard…_

"_They requested an audience with the Chairman,"_ Luna went on, _"and they did seem to be who they said they were, so I took them to a cabin earlier. Should I do anything about the situation now?"_

Talia glanced at the Chairman, who simply nodded. "Just tell them that the Chairman and I will be meeting with them as soon as we have the time," she informed Luna. "And if you should happen to pass Möbius One along the way, give him the same message, please."

"_Understood, Ma'am."_

Durandal smiled faintly, as he turned to leave the bridge. "A chief of state, a war hero, and a mysterious antiterrorist leader… this is turning out to be an interesting day…"

* * *

_Girty Lue,_ Bridge

* * *

Ian Lee glanced up from his displays as Neo entered the bridge. "The battle seems to be over, Captain," he said, nodding at the main display. "We appear to have escaped cleanly; no sign of pursuit at this time." He tilted his head. "Do you think they _will_ pursue, Sir?"

Neo frowned behind his mask, absently rubbing the left eyehole. _That's a good question,_ he thought to himself. _Depends on how badly they want those mobile suits back… but I think it's safe to say _that_ ship will be coming after us._

"I don't know about the ZAFT ship," he said at last, "though I believe we have no choice but to proceed under the assumption that she will. The other, though… I'm convinced _Odin_ will intervene. That's what Section Nine does, after all."

Lee looked at him curiously. "How so, Sir? Because of their antiterrorist objectives?"

Neo nodded. "That's part of it, yes… but think about it, Ian. I know most people haven't thought about their past actions much, at least not beyond cursing whatever idiot put their charter into the Junius Treaty, but I have… and I've noticed a disturbing pattern to their actions in the last two years." His eyes narrowed. "The final piece of the puzzle came when they stole the Strike Noir, six months ago, but it goes back even further than that. Arrests they've made, terror cells they've targeted… even a few assassinations that seem to trace back to them. When you correlate all the data, it becomes painfully obvious that their true objective is the destruction of Logos."

His exec blinked. "Are you sure, Sir? Very few people are even aware Logos exists; isn't it possible they're just targeting Blue Cosmos cells, and have gotten lucky with operations like the Greenland attack?"

The masked captain shook his head. "That's too much to attribute to coincidence, Ian. No, their actions fit a disturbing pattern… which means they know far more than our superiors ever believed, _and_ that it was known by someone as far back as the end of the War."

Lee frowned. "You're saying… that Section Nine's true purpose is to destroy Logos? That it was formed for that express purpose?"

Neo smiled faintly. "It's actually brilliant, Ian. I doubt you've read the relevant portions of the Treaty, but I have, and, in Section Nine of the Junius Treaty –probably deliberate placement, by someone with a sense of humor- Paragraph Three, Subsection Nine-A, it states, 'Section Nine's peacetime objective is the preservation of peaceful conditions, the primary management of which shall be accomplished by targeting and removing terrorist organization and/or mutinous factions of all sides of the conflict who refuse to lay down arms. Section Nine's wartime purpose, however, is to act as a third party, not bound by or under the authority of any nation, intervening in conflicts as believed necessary by Section Nine's commanding officer, including, if necessary, aggressive action against units of its sponsor nations believed to be engaged in actions violating the accepted rules of war.' In short, the objective most people believe they're limited to is just an interim assignment, while their _true_ mission is to act as something akin to the old True ZAFT… without anyone being able to tell them to stop."

Lee shook his head, bemused… and not a little offended at the very idea. "Who had the bright idea to make them effectively above the law that way?" he wondered aloud. "The power that gives them…"

Neo shrugged. "If I had to guess, those who authorized their formation probably believed their limited strength would serve to keep them in check; if you want my opinion, though, I'd say those who originally conceived of them were partisans of True ZAFT, who believed the only way to avoid having history repeat was to keep the organization, or something similar, fully intact… and properly funded. Probably Eileen Canaver and Rondo Mina Sahaku. Both of them are believed to have been supporters of the Grimaldi Falcon, during the War."

"And with the rumors of Commander DiFalco's behind the scenes involvement in the drafting of the Junius Treaty itself…"

He nodded. "Exactly. I think DiFalco knew something, years ago, about Logos, and used his influence in Orb and the PLANTs at the end of the War to make sure someone would be there to carry on his work."

Lee shook his head again. "The arrogance of the man… and the foresight. Even now, his legacy tries to trip us up; even after DiFalco himself has been retired from active duty for over two years."

"Yes," Neo agreed. "Retired, and, last I heard, rebuilding the mess our current direct superior's idiot of a predecessor made of Orb. But while he may be living the quiet life of an architect, I'd say the odds are better than even that Section Nine's leader is someone he handpicked personally… and that someone is the man in direct charge of Section Nine's part of this situation. That's why I think they'll be coming for us, Ian: DiFalco may've gotten his redemption by destroying GENESIS, but his mission still lives on… and that mission is us."

"That… could be bad," Lee muttered to himself. "In that case… what's the condition of our pilots? It sounds like we may need them sooner than we thought."

The masked captain shrugged. "They're resting, for now; after a job well done, they could use it. The only problem from the battle itself is that Auel was forced to use Stellar's block word to get her to retreat, and it's left her… a bit messed up."

Lee scowled. "I thought as much… With all due respect, Sir, I'm not at all convinced of their effectiveness on the battlefield."

Neo shrugged again. "I'll grant that they aren't as individually skilled as the three biological CPUs deployed in War, but they have one priceless advantage: they know how to follow orders. The original three spent half their time shooting at each other instead of the enemy, and didn't take well to orders from above." He gazed out at the emptiness of space ahead of them. "The ability to take orders, and fight as a team, may be critical in the times to come…"

* * *

_Minerva,_ Conference Room

* * *

An hour after the battle's inconclusive end, Kira and Cagalli entered the room where Talia and Durandal were waiting, feeling somewhat better than they had when they'd come aboard. _An hour's rest was just what we needed,_ Kira thought, coming to a halt behind Cagalli. _It's been so long since we flew in combat, I almost forgot what kind of physical stresses were involved…_

"I'm sorry for the delay," Durandal began, "but it's good to see you both intact nonetheless. I would've met with you sooner, but…"

Cagalli raised a hand. "Please, Mister Chairman, we understand. We were in the thick of the War; we know fighting the battle takes first priority."

He nodded. "Thank you for understanding, My Lady." Gesturing for both guests to sit, he also took a seat, next to Talia. "I must also apologize, though, for the situation you're in. We had no idea something like that was going to happen; I count us all fortunate that Commander Yamato had the quick thinking, and skill, to take over an unoccupied mobile suit."

Kira shrugged uncomfortably; receiving praise wasn't something he was usually comfortable with. "It wasn't much different from Heliopolis," he said simply, "except that this time I was the one piloting right away… and I knew what I was doing."

"So," Cagalli interjected, "do you have any information on who was behind that attack? I understand those were Earth Alliance mobile suits attacking the spaceport, but…"

"But Daggers of all types can be found anywhere these days," Talia finished, nodding. "Yes, that's unfortunately true; as such, all we can say for sure is that whoever it was had access to cutting-edge technology. With the number of well-armed splinter factions running around these days, especially the sort of rogue Earth Forces units that Section Nine usually tracks down…"

"In short," Durandal concurred, "we don't have any solid evidence as to the identity of the attackers. We're hoping, though, that another guest will have additional information. Captain?"

"Of course." Talia touched an intercom switch. "Millenia, please show the Major in."

"_On it, Captain."_

A moment later, the hatch slid open, allowing Millenia Crescent to enter first. Kira took the moment before her companion entered to study her; he recalled his mentor mentioning her once or twice, but never in any real detail… and he distinctly recalled Lance Cooper once stating, about a month before his death, that the woman was an exceptional pilot whom Ken had passed over as a potential Gray Demon without ever explaining why.

His –and Cagalli's- attention was immediately diverted to the next person to enter the compartment, though. Of slightly above average height, with a lean build, his gray flightsuit appeared to be of ZAFT styling –typical for Section Nine- and his face was concealed by a gasmask, with only some of his brown hair escaping.

_So Ken's aboard,_ Cagalli thought, pleased to see her old partner. _I just have to remember that we're not supposed to know him right now…_

Ken DiFalco, for his part, was grateful for the mask, as it hid his own mild sense of unease. _My first time on a ZAFT ship in… just over three years now,_ he reflected. _Not since my last trip aboard the old _Nacht Jaeger…_ feels strange to be back, really._ His mind focused momentarily on the young woman beside him._ And to be aboard a ship where Millenia is the mobile suit commander… perhaps it's best if I keep my visit as short as possible._ He gave a mental snort. _Yeah, right. Three years, and you think you're going to get away with not speaking with her?_

Just before the silence could stretch out too long, he inclined his head toward Cagalli. "My Lady," he said politely. "Captain Gladys…Chairman," he added, nodding to each in turn. "Thank you for seeing me."

"Not at all," Durandal assured him. "We're quite interested in hearing what you have to say, Major. Given Section Nine's… somewhat unorthodox methods, I thought perhaps you might have access to intelligence we don't, regarding the infiltrators."

Crossing his arms –unaware of the knowing look Millenia shot him as she recognized the mannerism- Ken leaned back against a bulkhead. "I do indeed have additional information," he admitted, "but it's not from prior intelligence; rather, it's from experience my agents and I had during the War. I believe they encountered Lady Cagalli and Commander Yamato on their way out, and mentioned it then."

Kira nodded, abruptly recalling the brief meeting. "Right," he concurred. "They said the three infiltrators that actually stole the prototypes didn't seem to be ordinary Naturals." He hesitated. "According to them, they… were more like biological CPUs."

Talia's eyes narrowed. "Like the pilots of Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider, in the War."

"Exactly," Ken confirmed. "I studied the battle data from Impulse while preparing for this meeting, and I'd have to concur with my agents' assessment. They didn't appear to be up to the skill level of the original three, but they were better than one would expect Naturals to be when first flying unfamiliar machines… and what they lacked in relative skill they made up for in teamwork far beyond anything I ever saw those three attempting. Most of the time, they were almost more intent on shooting each other than at us. These three…"

"A disturbing sign, indeed," Durandal said quietly. "Though not necessarily conclusive proof of the Earth Alliance violating the Junius Treaty. Some technologies became generally known following the War, so it's possible someone else has duplicated it here."

"Or the original lab may've been taken over," the Major acknowledged. "It's possible; despite two years of effort, we never found the lab. However, if they _have_ duplicated it, they've also improved it. From the combat time alone, I can tell you those three don't rely on gamma glipheptin; if they did, they'd have retreated in a withdrawal-induced panic several minutes before their actual departure."

Kira nodded, almost to himself. "That's right… that's what they always did when we fought them…"

Talia nodded as well, but her gaze was also curious. _It was obvious from the start that he was a veteran of ZAFT, from the War,_ she thought to herself, _but now it's also becoming clear the Major was spent at least part of the War with True ZAFT… So who…?_

"Major," she said aloud, "might I ask how you know so much about the operating time and battle tactics of the original biological CPUs?"

Ken met her gaze levelly, eyes still hidden behind his gasmask. "As you no doubt suspect," he said calmly, "I was a pilot with True ZAFT, in the latter half of the War. I happened to be present during several encounters with the second-stage GAT-X series units."

To his right, Millenia surprised everyone present by chuckling. "Oh, give it a rest, Sensei," she advised, raising an eyebrow. "Why not just ditch the disguise? You are who you are, and we both know it."

All eyes turned to her –Kira and Cagalli in sudden tension, Talia and Durandal in confusion edging toward realization, and Ken with something akin to a flinch- and then the Major sighed. "You know, Millenia," he said quietly, reaching up to grasp his mask, "it would've been much easier if you'd left well enough alone. I hadn't expected you to recognize me."

"You should've," she retorted. "You trained exactly two pilots personally, and while one of them may be dead now, I assure you I still recognize your mannerisms. I will admit, though, that you _do_ look odd without the sword." She smiled faintly. "As to it being 'easier' if I'd left things alone, I just think that all the cards should be at the table for this kind of thing."

"Major…" Cagalli began. "Maybe you shouldn't…"

Ken sighed. "It's all right, partner. It was probably inevitable anyway." Pulling off the gasmask, he set free his unruly brown hair… and revealed to the captain and the Chairman the pair of sword scars on his face, and the eyepatch over his left eye.

Talia inhaled sharply. "It's you," she whispered. "After all this time… the Grimaldi Falcon? _You're_ the leader of Section Nine?"

Durandal nodded slowly. _I should've known Heinrich's pet project wouldn't stay away from war for long. It's how he's built… and Section Nine would be DiFalco's ideal organization, at that._ "So," he said aloud, "no wonder the secrecy surrounding the identity of Möbius One. I don't blame you for choosing to remain anonymous, Commander DiFalco; I imagine there are a number of people who would be… concerned to learn you remained active in the military."

"_A_ military, Chairman," Ken corrected coolly. "Several points to address before we go any further: first, I'm not a commander anymore; in military life, I'm the Major commanding Section Nine, and in private life I have no title at all. Second, I'm not exactly fond of my old alias. I'm afraid I don't look on the memory of Endymion fondly. And third…" His Cyclops-like gaze swept across Talia and Durandal both, a piercing chill emanating from the single Prussian blue eye. "Word of my identity does not leave this room unless or until I say otherwise. To do otherwise would be to jeopardize my life, and those of several of my people."

"I understand, Major," Durandal assured him. "I can see why you and your fellow survivors –including, I'd guess, the other two surviving Gray Demons- would prefer to remain anonymous. I won't speak of it outside this compartment."

"Much appreciated, Chairman." The Major glanced at Talia. "I may end up informing _Minerva_'s crew at large, depending on the circumstances –I can see some under which it would be advantageous for my name to be known- but beyond that, silence is better for all involved."

_That's certainly true,_ Cagalli thought, looking worriedly at her partner out the corner of her eye. She remembered the War… the days when they flew together as partners in the same mobile suit, when the insane clone Victor Tempest had sought her friend's death… _Yeah, too many people want Ken dead, for one reason or another…_

"If we might return to the situation at hand," Talia said carefully, "I'd like to ask you, Major, just how far Section Nine is prepared to go in this."

Ken switched his attention back to her. "To begin with, Captain, I will first remind you that I'm a child of the PLANTs myself; my responsibilities may be somewhat broader these days, but the safety of the PLANTs has always been, and remains, a high priority for me. With that in mind, _Odin_ will remain in company with _Minerva _until the thieves have either been caught or have made a successful escape."

She nodded. "Thank you, Major. What does that mean militarily, exactly?"

He shrugged. "Less than I'd prefer," he admitted. "We really weren't expecting any trouble when we came out this way; most of our admittedly limited force is still at BaseOps. What we have available at the moment consists of _Odin,_ my Exus, and a single mobile suit. The latter, unfortunately, is still in the final stages of a large-scale repair and refit; though it's almost ready, it'll still be at least a couple of days. That said, I'm afraid our only mobile weapon ready for use is my Exus."

"Better than nothing," Durandal noted, "especially with a pilot of your caliber in the cockpit."

Ken grimaced. "Don't be too certain, Chairman. The pilot I assisted Millenia and your other pilots against was not someone I've ever encountered before. Believe me, I've fought against a number of Earth Forces pilots over the years, and I can't think of _any_ as good as this one. Even Morgan Chevalier, before his defection to my unit, wasn't as good as this fellow."

"So in other words," Millenia put in, "we should leave him to you, personally."

"It's probably a good idea," Kira noted, knowing that it wasn't precisely his affair but also knowing Ken's skills better than anyone in the room save Millenia herself. "He fought _me_ to a standstill at Jachin, after all."

His implication regarding himself in speaking of his friend's battle prowess wasn't bragging; it was acknowledgment of the simple fact that he himself was very probably the best pilot alive.

Durandal cleared his throat. "I think, perhaps, that there'll be time enough to go over the tactical details later. In the meantime, Lady Cagalli, perhaps you and Commander Yamato would accompany me on a tour of the _Minerva?"_

Talia blinked. "Are you sure that's wise, Your Excellency?"

He shrugged. "We're not enemies with Orb, Captain, and in any case it seems our latest designs may not remain confidential much longer anyway. Call it a gesture of good faith, between friends."

Cagalli exchanged a quick glance with Kira, who nodded. "Thank you, Chairman," she said, inclining her head. "We'd appreciate that."

The four of them stood to leave… and the gazes of the other two people present met in unspoken communication. "I'll catch up with you later," Ken said quietly, not turning his head from Millenia. "I believe I have some things to discuss with my old student."

Cagalli glanced at him curiously. "All right," she said, bemused but well aware that her friend would explain himself only if he felt the need. "We'll see you later, then."

She did wonder, though, what exactly was up.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Lounge

* * *

Safely away from prying eyes –the Major having used a rudimentary hacker's trick to seal the compartment's hatch and deactivate the security monitors- Ken and Millenia were free to be more open, in expression and words… which meant they had a chance to speak privately for the first time in over three years.

"It's good to see you again, Falcon," Millenia said with a smile, settling into a chair. In private, she dropped the titles she was always careful to use when others might overhear. "Three years it's been, hasn't it? I wasn't sure… we'd ever meet again."

"We almost didn't get a chance to," Ken noted, gracefully settling down himself. "You were nearly killed at Alaska, and I had quite a few scrapes after my desertion, including a nuclear strike and culminating in the mess of Second Jachin."

"I've heard about it," she informed him. "…I'm glad you made it, though." There was a look in her eyes Ken found familiar… and inwardly, he sighed.

_I knew this was coming. Even after we ended it, I knew the issue would come up again someday…_

Ken met her gaze solemnly. "Millenia… I'm engaged."

Millenia's eyes widened, and several emotions chased each other through them. Shock, jealousy… betrayal…and then it was past. "I see," she said, voice almost inaudible. "Then you _did_ mean what you said, when you were transferred to the Grimaldi Front."

"We both agreed it was for the best," he said reminded her gently. "After Laura died in the Bloody Valentine, I couldn't be sure of my own feelings… and losing another fellow pilot that way was something I couldn't take. Not then… maybe not ever."

"But I still thought-" She cut herself off, and looked away. _After all this time… but I guess I always knew it was a false hope. I knew him better than almost anyone…_ "So," she said quietly, looking up but not quite meeting his eyes, "who's the lucky girl?"

"Murrue Ramius," Ken replied, watching her carefully. "Captain of the _Archangel…_ and very probably the only reason I didn't just let myself go up in flames with GENESIS."

Millenia managed a quiet chuckle. "I should've known, I guess… from what I know of the woman, she's not so different from Laura. Maybe not as quick to run to a fight, but every bit as unflinching when the hammer drops…like a lioness protecting her cubs." She finally met Ken's eyes, solemn but under control. "I hadn't heard a word about the engagement, though."

The ex-ZAFT ace shrugged. "Is that really so surprising? At the end of the War, I dropped off the map so thoroughly even Jess Rabble couldn't find me; I remember his article at the signing of the Junius Treaty quite well. No, these days it's very unusual for anyone outside of Orb to hear anything about my life… and not too many people _in_ Orb, either."

She managed a smile, though only a bittersweet one. "So the Falcon finally found something to live for beyond his mission… after you lost the Gray Demons at Endymion, I honestly wondered if you'd have the will to live after the War. When I heard about GENESIS, after they brought me out of stasis, I was actually surprised to learn you were alive… at least, alive as of the truce, since you'd disappeared just after that."

"Fair's fair," Ken noted, inwardly grateful that the conversation was steering away from their hidden past. "After the Battle of Alaska, I was none too sure _you_ were still alive. I know my Demons arranged for your medical care, but they weren't able to determine whether or not it was successful until months later." His eye took on a shadowed look, as he remembered a big, kind-hearted man, his most trusted subordinate… who had given his life in hopes of protecting his commander's future. "You… heard about Sparky, I presume."

Millenia sighed. "…Yeah. Even eighteen months after Jachin, when I was revived, they were still talking about _Arkbird_'s suicide run into the fortress. Opinion was about evenly divided about whether or not it was the right thing to do –there were over a thousand other people on that asteroid, after all- and nobody was able to tell me his reasons for doing it… but yeah, I found out pretty early."

"I suspected as much." He closed his eye. "…Even now, I don't understand exactly what his motives were myself. I know only what he told me at the time: 'It's time I gave something back to you, Boss. You've done so much for us, now it's time to do this for you, because of what you've done.' And he said… that because I gave my all for the PLANTs, he and his crew gave their all for me."

"He was a good man," she said softly. "And… by then, I guess you were all he had left."

"Yeah," Ken agreed. "Both his brothers died during the Yggdrasil siege, and his parents passed away long before that… I suppose we really were his only family by then."

Millenia nodded. "ZAFT could use men like him… he'll be sorely missed."

"Believe me, he is." He spent another moment on reflection, before remembering his friend wouldn't have wanted him to brood over his sacrifice. "So… I trust _your_ life has been going reasonably smoothly, since they brought you out of stasis?"

"Reasonably," she acknowledged with a faint grimace. "I have to admit it was weird at first, seeing this face in the mirror. Mine, but with a flawlessness I never achieved with my original body. Not to mention having to figure out how to make it _move_ like my old one did. As you must've seen in the battle, I haven't quite regained my old skills… and I'm ashamed to say my swordsmanship has suffered a little since the switch to the new body."

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? I'll have to see what I can do about that, while _Odin_ and _Minerva_ are still traveling together; it simply isn't right for one of my students, especially one of my protégés, to be lacking in skill with a blade…"

* * *

_Minerva,_ Corridor/Hangar

* * *

"I hope Ken's doing all right," Cagalli murmured to Kira, as they followed Talia and Durandal toward the hangar. "Being alone with that Crescent woman… it makes me nervous, somehow."

"I wouldn't worry _too_ much," Kira advised. "The only student of his who's ever tried to kill him is –was- Tempest, and he's dead now. I don't think Crescent would try something like that, especially when Ken's supposed to be a guest aboard."

"Actually," she corrected with a small smile, "_you_ fought him once, too… and though I guess it's true you weren't trying to kill him, you were still giving him a rough time."

"Different situation," he retorted, wincing a little at the memory. "Besides… I think those two have some kind of history. I don't know what, but there's more going on there than just master and pupil meeting again…"

Cagalli shrugged. "With him, who knows? He never tells anybody everything; maybe they had some unfinished business when he deserted, or maybe she's looking for a refresher course. As long as she _isn't_ out to get him, I guess it's probably nothing to worry about… but I'm probably going to, anyway."

That was something Kira didn't exactly find surprising. Not only were she and Ken close, but she also had empirical evidence of what happened when he started getting overconfident. _Like the time he got them lost in broad daylight, and had to spend the night on a deserted island because he can't find his way around on planets…_

"This is the main hangar," Durandal said, breaking into their respective reveries. "Obviously, you've both seen this already, but perhaps now you can gain some perspective on it… and the reason for the machines within."

Stepping through the hatch after Talia and the Chairman, Kira and Cagalli gazed down on the _Minerva_'s complement of mobile suits from a walkway approximately midway between deck and deckhead. _Huh,_ Kira thought, looking over the assembly, _looks like _Minerva_ was better prepared for this than _Archangel_ was…_

Where the _Archangel_ had been able to recover only the GAT-X105 Strike, with the unexpected addition of Mu La Flaga's stranded Möbius Zero, _Minerva_ had several mobile suits already aboard. A red ZAKU Warrior, the damaged green ZAKU he and Cagalli had arrived with, a white ZAKU Phantom, the Strike Noir and the Impulse… even an aging GuAIZ R, next to the space temporarily occupied by Ken's Exus.

While Kira was, almost in spite of himself, impressed by the ensemble, Cagalli felt uneasy. "Six modern mobile suits," she said quietly, "including one of your prototypes and the one Section Nine gave you… and I assume the stolen units were also supposed to be carried aboard…" She turned to the Chairman, eyes shadowed with unease. "Chairman… I have to say this doesn't look much like a defensive deployment to me."

Durandal nodded. "I realize it may not to you, My Lady, but I assure you, it's not meant for offensive purposes. As I said, as long as there are people, there will never be an end to human conflict. What this reflects is the idea of 'peace through strength'; as Commander DiFalco would've said, if you want peace then you must prepare for war."

"Also," Talia interjected, turning to the Orb visitors, "I should point out that this isn't a large number by wartime standards, Lady Cagalli. Despite _Minerva_'s size, we only carry as many mobile suits as a _Nazca_-class might; this is also a result of the Junius Treaty, With the limitation on mobile suit numbers imposed by the Treaty, we've had to use quality to make up for a lack of quantity."

Cagalli nodded slightly, but she still wasn't convinced. "It sounds to me like that's violating the spirit of the Junius Treaty, really. Those restrictions were written into it for a reason, after all."

Surprisingly, Kira shook his head. "No, Cagalli," he said quietly. "Here, I think they're right. One of the flaws of the Junius Treaty –something Ken spoke against at the time- is the clause that makes the number of mobile suits restricted on the basis of the nation's resources. With the PLANTs so much smaller than the member nations of the Earth Alliance, the good intentions of the Treaty are circumvented by poor planning."

Durandal nodded. "Exactly. Lady Cagalli, you know how the Earth Alliance operates as well as we do. Without sufficient strength on our side to deter them, the Earth Forces would simply roll over us, rendering the Treaty completely moot. Oh, I know Section Nine is supposed to prevent that, but Section Nine itself is hampered by small numbers."

Cagalli sighed. "I guess… but it looked like both sides were genuinely moving toward peace…"

"Peace?" a new voice snorted, from below. "Then you're blind. Just like an Athha to ignore reality, using sugarcoated words to disguise the ugly truth!"

Her eyes widened, and she glanced down to see Shinn Asuka standing near the Impulse, a look of utter contempt on his face… a contempt which, combined with his words, sent a stab of never-quite-forgotten pain through her.

"It's just like two years ago," the pilot went on pitilessly. "If Uzumi Nara Athha hadn't been so stubborn, Orb wouldn't have-"

"If you want to blame someone besides Muruta Azrael for what happened in Orb," another voice said calmly, "I suggest you blame me."

Shinn froze, and turned to see Ken entering from the opposite side of the hangar, on the same level as the others. He'd once again donned his gasmask, though, so Shinn was unable to recognize him. _The Major,_ he thought, confused. _What does he think he's saying…?_

"After all," he went on, "it was partly due to my persuasion that he laid the groundwork for the resistance in the first place… and it was because of my presence that nuclear weapons were used."

Shinn's expression went blank for a moment, and Kira could understand why, as Cagalli lowered her own eyes. He remembered that day well himself, when Azrael had lured Ken into a position where they could use nuclear weapons on him… and when Azrael, enraged by the loss of Morgenroete and the Kaguya mass driver, had ordered the mass use of nuclear warheads against Orb's population centers. Had prior planning not led virtually all of Orb's civilians to evacuate to Ame-no-Mihashira in time, most of them would've died…

Just as Uzumi Nara Athha, Cagalli's father, had died, destroying himself with the mass driver just before any remains were obliterated in nuclear fire.

After several moments of utter silence, Shinn's jaw tightened. "I don't know who you think you are, Major," he said, barely-controlled rage evident in his voice, "but that's a really sick joke. Section Nine wasn't even created yet; you weren't even there !"

Ken slowly shook his head. "Au contraire, Shinn Asuka," he said softly, reaching once again to remove his mask, heedless of the number of witnesses. "I was there… and I was the one who started it all, three years ago… the one who began the resistance that would become known as True ZAFT."

And with those words, he pulled off the gasmask.

Vino and Yolant, both working on the ZAKU Kira and Cagalli had brought aboard, looked at the Major in puzzlement; with all visual records of Commander Kenneth DiFalco having been removed from ZAFT archives following the War, they didn't understand the significance of what they were seeing.

Shinn, on the other hand, did. _That face… that eyepatch… it's… it's _him!_ But…_ "Commander DiFalco?" he whispered. "The Grimaldi Falcon, hero of ZAFT?"

Ken shook his head again. "My name is Ken DiFalco, yes… but I'm no hero. I told you before, I was –and am- just a man, trying his best. I won't even try to argue whether or not I did the right thing, by fighting against ZAFT… but I can and will say this: I did what I _believed_ was right." He absently rubbed his eyepatch. "Loyalty to one's nation, or to one's comrades… or to one's mission. I tried to be loyal to all three, and in the process made some hard choices… choices which led to things nearly as terrible as the catastrophe I set out to stop. I won't deny that Lord Uzumi had a part in what happened in Orb. I won't even try to claim that I agreed with everything he did… but _I_ was the one who first made him face the fact that Orb could not remain neutral forever. The one who helped him plan for the eventuality of war coming to his nation… the one who tried to build a 'battlefield dominator', which eventually provoked Azrael into overcompensating."

The young pilot swallowed hard, diverted from his diatribe against the Athhas. "What… what are you saying, Commander?" he whispered. "I mean… what happened two years ago was…"

"My belief now is that I was correct then," Ken told him. "That the coming of war to your home was inevitable. I tried to mitigate that as much as I could, but in the end my actions only made it worse; I succeeded in my primary mission but made terrible sacrifices to achieve it. What I'm saying, Shinn Asuka, is that if you're going to blame my partner's father for what happened… then you should place an even share of blame on _me,_ because of the role I played in those events."

Shinn closed his eyes, put off balance by the revelation of Section Nine's leader as the ZAFT soldier he admired most… and by the claim by that same man that he himself was as responsible for what happened as anyone.

It was enough to put a minor dent in everything he'd believed since the War claimed the lives of his entire family… he just wasn't sure what the words changed. _What does it mean? Commander DiFalco… was the one who first approached Chief Representative Athha about becoming involved in the war… and holds that he is as responsible as the Athha family for what happened. But if I still respect him, knowing that, then…?_

His rattled thoughts were interrupted by an alarm that rang over the PA system. _"Bridge to Captain Gladys,"_ Arthur Trine called. _"Repeat, Bridge to Captain Gladys!"_

Talia quickly stepped to an intercom panel. "This is the captain. What's going on, Arthur?"

"_Bogey One detected, Captain. They've entered the fringes of the Debris Belt, and are nearing an old resource asteroid, surrounded by colony debris."_

Her mouth tightened. "Understood, Arthur. Sound Battlestations; I'm on my way there." As the alarms abruptly redoubled, she turned back to the civilians. "Chairman, Lady Cagalli, Commander Yamato, I'm afraid I'll have to take my leave now. It looks like we're about to be in battle again."

Cagalli nodded. "Of course, Captain." She turned to look over at her old partner. "Ken?" she asked, simultaneously conveying with her expression her gratitude at his intervention in Shinn's outburst.

Ken was already pushing himself off, heading for the deck. "I'm launching," he said simply. "Time for the Falcon to hunt again, it would appear…" As he neared his Exus, he glanced over at Shinn. "One thing before we launch, kid: put everything I just said out of your mind till after the battle. Allow yourself to be distracted, and you'll be just another dead rookie."

Shinn blinked, and almost visibly shook himself. "Right, Sir," he said firmly. "I'll remember."

"Good. Do that, and you've got a good chance of staying alive." Nodding briefly at the younger pilot, he dove through the mobile armor's hatch.

Durandal quietly cleared his throat then, and Cagalli turned to him. "If you don't mind, My Lady," he began, "I suggest we head for the bridge. It's only fair the two of you see exactly what's going on… especially with your friend going out there to fight, as well."

She nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Chairman. We'd like that."

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"What's the current status of Bogey One?" Talia asked, glancing at Heim.

"They've used a rocket anchor to pull themselves inside the resource satellite itself," he reported, consulting his displays. "I can't tell if they've launched mobile suits; I don't see any, but they might just be hiding behind the asteroid itself."

"I see…" _They know they can't win a fair contest between our ships; they must be trying something sneaky…_ "Any word from _Odin?"_

"Just that they're keeping an eye on the situation, Ma'am," Meyrin replied. "Captain Chance has decided to maintain a rearguard position, in case of other cloaked ships."

Talia nodded to herself. "A sensible precaution… All right. Instruct our pilots to launch at once."

"Yes, Ma'am." Meyrin turned back to her console, and began issuing the instructions through her headset.

As she did so, the bridge hatch opened, admitting Durandal, Kira, and Cagalli. "Pardon the intrusion, Captain," the Chairman began, "but I felt it wise to allow Lady Cagalli and Commander Yamato to see what's going on, particularly with the Major being involved in the battle. Also, I thought perhaps their own combat experience might prove valuable, if they should see something others miss."

Talia blinked. _Orb officials on the bridge of a ZAFT warship during military operations… but then they're not just any Orb officials, and they _are_ more experienced in actual combat than any of my people. I guess their input might be useful, at that._ "It's all right," she said finally. "Lady Cagalli, Commander Yamato, you might want to find something to hold onto; this might get a little rough."

Kira smiled faintly. "I know, Captain. I didn't spend _all_ my time flying, during the War."

"Neither did I," Cagalli concurred. "And believe me, even when I _was_ flying, it got a little bumpy. Flying as Ken DiFalco's gunner could be… interesting, when he was in top form."

"Given the Commander's reputation," Talia said dryly, "that doesn't surprise me. I've seen records of the Bloody Valentine, My Lady."

Kira and Cagalli exchanged glances, recalling one piece of knowledge about that incident they possessed but most others didn't, then moved to find secure positions on the bridge.

As they did so, Meyrin glanced up from her station. "Mobile suits –and the Major's mobile armor- report ready to launch, Captain," she reported.

Talia nodded. "Then pass the order, Meyrin: launch immediately."

"Yes, Ma'am. Commander Crescent? You and the others are to launch at once."

"_Understood,"_ Millenia replied, from Strike Noir's cockpit. _"Millenia Crescent, Strike Noir, launching!"_

"_Shinn Asuka, Core Splendor launching!"_

Kira watched the core section of the Impulse launch with some interest. He'd heard it was somewhat like his old Strike… and now he saw that was even more true than he'd thought. It took the modular design one step further, by separating the machine itself into three distinct modules, which were pulled together by a unique laser-lock system after launch. _Complex,_ he noted, recalling his piloting experience and technical education. _Makes it easier to repair, I guess… but it looks too complex for its own good…_

As he was thinking, Rey and Luna had both launched… and now it was time for one more. _"This is Möbius One,"_ Ken's distorted voice said over the intercom. _"Beginning launch procedure now. Let this battle not lead to another unsung war…"_

The Exus launched, and the stage for the new battle was set.

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

Though the stolen prototypes have not been retrieved, the attack on Armory One has been driven off… and in the short respite, ghosts of the Bloody Valentine War come to light, as Section Nine's enigmatic Major is revealed to be the most controversial ace ZAFT ever produced… as well as its deadliest.

And in the conversations that follow, Ken DiFalco and Millenia Crescent speak to one another of a hidden past… before they fly together in battle once again.

Hm… I guess this one's a little late –blame that on my problems writing the Armory One sequence; later chapters should be easier on me- and I'm not quite sure of the quality of the latter half of it… Well, I trust I at least kept things interesting, especially with the conversation between Ken and Millenia.

One note I should make here, and I hope I need only make this point once: some may have noticed that, within a day of Chapter 2 being posted, an anonymous review for this story was deleted. Before anyone gets any ideas about that, let me explain exactly why I removed it. As some people have had cause to know, I don't jump down people's throats just for being criticized; if I did, there are a few people who would probably have been incinerated by enraged text by now. I actually welcome criticism… as long as it's **_constructive._** I respect constructive criticism, and even if I happen to disagree with it I won't blow up at the person who said it. However, I have no respect at all for people who simply say that I'm doing everything wrong, and don't give any suggestions as to how I might change that. Also, anyone who flames my _readers_ will get only one chance before being blocked; you can criticize me all you want, but don't go calling those who happen to like my work idiots. And finally, I _really_ have no respect for those who left such reviews for one story, and then proceed to leave bad reviews for a sequel. To those people, I have only this to say: if you didn't like the first story, why on earth are you bothering me about the sequel?

In short, you can criticize me all you want, so long as it's constructive. Flames, however, will be ignored or deleted, as I have no respect for such a waste of perfectly good binary code.

Now that I've taken care of my rant for this week, I guess all I have left to say is that I hope the chapter was at least reasonably good, and I'd like to know what people think about it. –Solid Shark


	4. Chapter 4: Stand Alone Complex

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

* * *

_Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

Rau Le Creuset stared silently at the main display, fingers steepled in thought. "I hope Falcon knows what he's doing," he said after a long moment. "He's not been in combat in over two years… and I also don't think revealing his identity so soon was such a good idea."

"It sounded to me like he didn't have much choice," Jason Chance noted, glancing briefly at the ex-ZAFT commander. "Whoever this Millenia Crescent is, she was obviously close enough to him at one time to have been able to recognize him now, even with the mask. If he _hadn't_ accepted it, she probably would've gone ahead and said his name herself."

"Perhaps," Rau granted. "But that's another thing that bothers me. Not even Tom or Leanne can tell me just what that woman was to Falcon, nor why he passed her over when selecting pilots for the Gray Demons; that strikes me as out of character for him… especially considering the skill she displayed both in the War and at Armory One."

Chance shrugged. "Personality conflict? With the Major, who knows what was going through his head. I'm sure he had his reasons, however obscure they may seem to us." _That's what the Admiral would say, anyway,_ he thought, recalling his retired boss. _I wish just with he was here now. My first true space battle without Admiral Halberton riding the bridge with me…_

Unaware of his colleague's thoughts, Rau was slowly shaking his head. "Not a personality conflict," he said, almost to himself. "He was obviously on better terms with her than with Tempest, and Tempest he only removed after a particularly severe case of insubordination. And as for his reasons being obscure to us… you've obviously not been with him long enough, Jason. Falcon's mind is devious, but it works very logically; when his thinking is finally unraveled, it may be brilliant, and it may even be coldly rational, but it is _always_ perfectly understandable, at least to those with the wit to understand."

"Well, you're the expert," the blonde-haired captain said in exasperation, "_you_ figure it out. What could someone like that have meant to a cold fish like the Major?"

"A very good question, Jason," Rau admitted. "In this case, unfortunately, I suspect it's a question only Falcon himself could answer… Falcon, or Crescent. And since Falcon is as closemouthed as ever about some things, and I doubt Crescent would say a word about it, we're left in the dark until and unless Falcon decides it's important to the mission that we know."

Chance sighed. "Right. Whatever. So why worry? Either way, he did what he had to do, right?"

"Right… mostly." The younger man frowned deeply. "I just hope he remembers what I told him after Sophia cured me… that Gil cannot be trusted…" He shook himself. "So, any ETA on completion of the refit?"

"Yeah," Tom Delaney answered, stepping onto the bridge. "Right now… just in time for the Boss _not_ to be able to come back for it."

Rau shrugged. "Better late than never, I suppose. If he can just survive _this_ battle, at least he'll be well off for the next… whatever the next may be."

That there would _be_ a next, none of them doubted. However this battle ended, it was clear the shaky peace between Earth and the PLANTs was about to come apart at the seams.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"I wonder what that ship's name actually is," Gilbert Durandal murmured, watching as _Minerva_'s mobile suits approached the asteroid Bogey One had chosen as a hiding place. "A name is what defines something's existence, after all; nothing is complete without one. And if a name is false… then does that something actually exist?"

Kira Yamato looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?" he asked, interest piqued by the Chairman's tone. "How can something have a name, but not actually exist?"

"Think about it," Durandal suggested. "'The Major', for example. There is a man behind the codename… but not the one the codename would define. A false identity, protecting something completely different…"

"Yes," Talia agreed, nodding. She spared a moment's attention from the brewing battle to glance back at the civilians. "I believe Commander DiFalco himself once spoke of it, in a paper published within ZAFT. Something to do with a 'stand alone complex', copies with no original, based on fiction rather than something that actually existed."

"Indeed," the Chairman confirmed. "He was actually speaking more in terms of a ruse with battle strategies –hence his use of Operation Guillotine to distract attention from Aquilae- but he also noted at the time that it would apply equally well to a person operating under an alias… or a ship sailing under false colors."

"So what are you trying to say?" Cagalli Yula Athha interrupted at last, getting impatient. "That Ken doesn't exist?"

Durandal smiled slightly, and shook his head. "No; the Major's connection to this is quite incidental. I was merely using it as an example. My point is… that _ship_ very likely doesn't exist. Not officially, anyway… and it wouldn't be the first time something of that sort has been encountered."

"The unit Section Nine captured the X105E from," Talia said, nodding slowly. "I always wondered where that came from." She glanced over her shoulder. "You think the same people are behind the unit Section Nine assaulted and the ship we're facing now?"

"Strike Noir was clearly intended for someone with capabilities beyond the average Natural," he pointed out. "Ergo, either it was constructed for a specific pilot –which seems somehow unlikely- or else for a _type_ of a pilot… a type of the same sort the Major's operatives reported as stealing the prototypes."

"You're suggesting it's the Atlantic Federation behind this," Cagalli whispered. "And if that's true… plausible deniability or not, this could only be the first strike in a new offensive, or at least the preparation for one."

Kira closed his eyes. _Not again,_ he thought. _We barely got out of the first War alive, and we left behind some good people… good _friends._ Millions of lives lost on both sides… how many people will have to die this time before we can put an end to it?_

"Indeed," Durandal said, in response to Cagalli's statement. "I don't know how long we have before they make their move, but if this is indeed an Atlantic Federation operation, it's only a matter of time before we're faced with some hard choices." He glanced briefly at Kira and Cagalli. "All of us will be."

Cagalli's eyes were shadowed, as she remembered the battles of the War, especially the nightmare of Second Jachin… but while Kira was briefly mired in those recollections himself, something else abruptly came to mind, something about the Chairman's tone… _He doesn't just mean individuals,_ he realized. _Nations, even, and organizations… like Orb, and Section Nine. Ken's gonna side with the PLANTs, I'm sure, but Orb… Cagalli will try to stay out of it completely, but with the Atlantic Federation's track record, and the influence the Seirans have over the rest of the government these days…_

Not for the first time, he wished someone like the retired Siegel Clyne were prime minister of Orb, instead of Unato Ema Seiran.

Further discussion was interrupted by transmissions from the mobile weapons. _"I don't like this,"_ Lunamaria Hawke murmured uneasily. _"So many asteroid fragments… and I didn't score very well in the asteroid simulations."_

"_Be on your guard, then,"_ Shinn Asuka suggested tersely. _"Watch yourself out here."_

"_He's right,"_ Millenia Crescent interjected. _"Nonetheless, don't worry too much, Luna; stay loose, or you'll be too tense to move."_

"_You'll be fine,"_ the electronically-altered voice of the pilot currently known as Möbius One said reassuringly. _"Just stay cool, watch your six, and think of it like a training simulation. Remember Lesson Forty-five. There is only one ultimate rule in war: survive."_

Arthur Trine, Talia's exec, blinked. "The Grimaldi Falcon, worrying about a rookie? I thought he didn't have much use for them, especially after he left ZAFT."

"It's more that he doesn't think they're much use in their first battle," Kira corrected, "not that he doesn't have any use for them at all. He was a rookie once, too." _And so was I,_ he added silently. _Everybody starts somewhere…_

The bridge fell silent then, as Talia simply observed the unfolding situation. So far, nothing had happened… but something didn't seem quite right anyway, and she could tell Möbius One shared her reservations. His Exus was advancing more cautiously than the mobile suits, and he'd already deployed his gunbarrels in a spiraling defensive pattern around himself.

"_I don't like this,"_ the ex-ZAFT ace said at last, voice low. _"I've fought against the Earth Alliance more times than I care to remember, and the last time I ran into someone as crafty as that ship's captain was when Castor Truman nearly blew us all to hell. We should've seen some sign of the enemy by now besides Bogey One's radar signature…"_ He paused; from the character of the silence, Cagalli guessed he was using the "combat-computer" conditioning Heinrich Metzinger had designed into him to analyze the existing data. _"I don't like this,"_ he repeated at last. _"_Minerva,_ all mobile suits, I suggest you be on your guard. I think this is a trap."_

"_Concur,"_ Millenia said a moment later. Her strategic senses weren't quite as well-honed as her mentor's, and she knew his brilliance –both as a soldier and as a strategist- exceeded her own, but she hadn't survived as long as she had by being stupid. _"M__ö__bius One is right, we should've seen _something_ by this time. Be on guard,_ Minerva."

Talia nodded. "I agree. Bart," she said, glancing over her shoulder, "keep a very close eye on your sensors. Chen, prepare to-"

"_Too late,"_ Möbius One interrupted with deadly calm… and uttered an inhuman, ascending wail into the radio.

Cagalli cringed –she'd never gotten used to that particular noise- but Kira and Talia both locked their gazes on the main screen… just in time to see what had prompted the ace's sudden cry of the peregrine falcon's hunting call.

Gaia, Chaos, and Abyss had appeared from a wrecked colony, near the asteroid Bogey One was using for concealment.

"_Scatter!"_ Millenia snapped, reacting immediately. She rolled Strike Noir over and dove relative to her previous position, drawing one of her beam blades as she did so. At the same time, Rey and Shinn split to either side, while Luna pulled up… and Möbius One headed straight down their throats, already deploying his gunbarrels in a wider spiral.

The first shot to be fired wasn't actually directed at any of them, though; instead, Chaos deployed its remote weapon pods, armed their beam cannons… and targeted _Minerva_'s sole GuAIZ R, which had launched late.

Its misfortune proved to be fatal, as a hurricane of powerful emerald darts savaged its torso. The pilot began to scream… and his machine vomited flame and debris, before tearing itself into a million scattered pieces.

"_Remote weapons, eh?"_ Möbius One muttered, an edge of contempt audible even in the electronically-altered voice. _"Two can play at that game, amigo… and if I weren't waiting for someone else, I'd show you myself."_

Talia frowned. "Waiting…?" she murmured, unaware that she'd spoken aloud.

Unaware, that was, until Cagalli spoke up, worry evident in her voice. "It's Falcon's tactical style," she said quietly, frowning. "He gathers as much information about an enemy as he can before he strikes the final blow… and I think what that means this time is that he's waiting for the enemy Exus to come out after him."

"He's not used to pilots who can get away from him without a scratch," Kira agreed, frowning in concern himself. "Right now, I don't think he's even interested in the stolen machines; he wants another chance at the one that escaped him last time."

"He probably won't have long to wait," Durandal mused. "I'd expect the enemy pilot probably feels much the same-"

"Captain!" Heim interrupted. "Bogey One has just disappeared from radar!"

_It _was_ a trap!_ "Bring us around!" Talia ordered. "Find Bogey One before she can target us!"

"Behind us," Heim said tensely. "Bogey One has dropped Mirage Colloid directly to our stern; detecting energy buildup in her cannons!"

"Lower bower thirty degrees," she snapped. "Prepare to swing us around to engage directly!"

Behind them, the mysterious ship had indeed reappeared, all six Gottfried cannons charged… and only moments after Talia gave her order, those cannons opened fire, unleashing a terrible sleet of emerald fire… but Malik Yardbirds had reacted in time. The green energy missed _Minerva_'s hull by mere meters, gouging a crater in the asteroid ahead of them, instead.

_That was too close,_ Talia thought grimly. "Malik, one hundred and eighty degrees about. Chen, prepare to fire Tristans as soon as we're in position."

"Not possible," Yardbirds replied, voice taut. "Looks like two Dagger Ls, one to either side. If we try to turn around…"

She cursed under her breath. "Understood. Take us closer to the asteroid, instead, and put us on a terrain following course; we'll orbit it and come back around."

"Yes, Captain!"

"Meyrin," Talia said next, glancing over her shoulder, "have our mobile suits return at once, if they can; and send a message to _Odin_ that we could use their assistance against Bogey One immediately."

"Understood, Ma'am!" Turning back to her own console, Meyrin lifted a hand to her headset. "Commander Crescent, _Minerva_ is under direct attack; please return at once, if you're able. Bogey One is currently to our stern."

"_Understood,"_ Millenia replied, transmission weak from interference but still understandable. _"However, we're currently engaged with all three prototypes; ETA may be later than any of us would prefer."_

"Roger that, Commander." Meyrin switched frequencies. _"Odin,_ this is _Minerva,_ requesting immediate fire support."

"_This is Chance,"_ came the reply, much stronger (due to _Odin_'s advanced ECCM). _"Already moving in; the Lohengrin is contraindicated, under the circumstances –too much chance of hitting _you_ in the process- but we're charging Gottfrieds… and opening fire with Sledgehammers and the Valiant as I speak."_

"Understood, _Odin."_ She turned back to the captain. "Ma'am, our mobile suits have received the message, but are currently engaged already; _Odin_ moving to intercept."

Talia nodded. "Thank you, Meyrin." _Now if they can just get here in time…  
_

* * *

_Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

"Tell me again why we didn't bring along Morgan or Nicol?" Chance muttered to himself, as _Odin_ lined up for an attack run on Bogey One. "Or Alicia, for that matter… Anything would be better than facing off against _this_ with only one ship and one pilot."

"Two years of complacency," Rau opined, frowning at the main display. "Even Falcon didn't expect them to make their move this soon… and now we're paying for it." His frown deepened, as another thought occurred to him. "The truly unfortunate thing is, I'm fairly sure Gil _did_ anticipate this action…"

Chance glanced at him in bemusement, but decided he had more important things to worry about. _Yeah, like not getting blown up,_ he thought sarcastically. _We survived Second Jachin, so we _should_ be able to survive this… but sometimes a golden BB is more likely to bring down a ship than even something like GENESIS._

_At least GENESIS was big enough to avoid fairly easily._

"Lieutenant Castile," he said abruptly, eyes narrow as he gazed at the screen, "lock Gottfried on target, and prepare to fire."

"Aye, Sir." _Odin_'s fire-control officer was the only member of the bridge crew who hadn't been present at Second Jachin. The man who'd previously held the post had retired after the War, and now acted as bodyguard for Rear Admiral Lewis C. Halberton (retired), at his home in the PLANTs. The new officer was a replacement recruited from Orb, when Section Nine first began to pull its act together.

Some members of the crew held that Castile was also an Orb Intelligence officer, on loan direct to the Major.

Chance didn't much care either way. What he cared about was the fact that Castile was good at his job.

"Locked on target," he reported a few moments later. "Sledgehammer missiles also ready to fire on command, Sir."

"Excellent, Lieutenant," Chance said approvingly. "Now give that sneaky bastard a kick in the backside."

"Consider him kicked, Captain," Castile replied, and hit a single key on his console.

From the missile launchers mounted on _Odin_'s stern, half a dozen Sledgehammer antiship missiles rocketed out into space… and directly ahead of her superstructure, the Gottfried spat a burst of coherent light toward Bogey One.

* * *

_Girty Lue,_ Bridge

* * *

"Status of the engagement?" Neo Roanoke asked calmly; he could see much of the information himself, but _Minerva_ had just slipped out of direct view… and there was still no sign of the mobile suits, his or theirs.

"_Minerva_ is currently unable to effectively engage us," the officer in charge of CIC, Lieutenant Commander Evan Barrows, replied. "Our Dagger Ls are still keeping them hemmed in. Our pilots don't seem able to finish the job yet, but _Minerva_ hasn't been able to dive them off, either; probably because of the surrounding debris."

Neo nodded. "And our pilots?"

"Hard to tell," Barrows admitted. "The situation is chaotic. Telemetry shows them still intact, though, and since none of the enemy machines have engaged us directly, I think they're too busy right now."

"Good," another voice said, from the bridge hatch. "That bodes well for the fundamental soundness of their designs."

Neo turned his head briefly, glancing at the new arrival. "Commander Hamilton," he noted. "I wondered when you were going to show yourself," he added dryly. "It's been over two hours since we recovered the prototypes, after all."

The man who stood at the bridge hatch was of average height and slim build, with brown hair and blue eyes; apparently unprepossessing, looks could deceive. Neo happened to know the man was a superb pilot, one who'd survived Second Jachin… and as the subtle traces in his face showed, Lieutenant Commander Allen Hamilton was also the son of the late Admiral James Hamilton, who had perished when ZGMF-X10A Freedom destroyed _Dominion_ during Second Jachin.

Unlike his father, the younger Hamilton had no interest in the feud between Natural and Coordinator; he was just a soldier doing his duty as he saw it… and, in his spare time, working quietly to find a way to avenge his father.

"Well," Hamilton said now, with a slight shrug, "I've been a little busy. We've only gleaned a fraction of the data regarding the design of those three so far, but it's still a large amount of information to wade through… and fascinating, to boot." He smiled slightly. "Believe me, Captain, their actual combat value is almost irrelevant. I can already tell the data from them alone will be of tremendous value to Project Zeta."

Neo nodded. "Glad to hear it; after Section Nine stole the 105E six months ago, we need something new ourselves. Still… I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the value of those three units, if I were you. They're tying the ZAFT forces in knots right now."

Hamilton raised an eyebrow. "Do you expect that to last, Sir? Those may be rookies flying the ZAFT suits now, but if they survive, they'll learn… and believe me when I say an experienced Coordinator is _not_ someone you want in something like the Impulse or the Strike Noir."

"I'm aware of that, Commander," the masked captain said mildly. "That's why I'm considering going out there myself, if only to confront that rogue-"

"Incoming missile and beam fire from our stern!" Barrows interrupted. "The _Odin_ has entered the battle directly!"

"Set CIWS to point-defense mode," Neo said calmly (if more rapidly than usual). "Lower bow pitch angle sixty, prepare to reactivate Mirage Colloid, and deploy anti-beam depth charges."

"Aye, Sir!"

The Igelstellung turrets spaced across _Girty_ _Lue_'s surface opened up an instant later, spewing high-velocity bullets at the incoming Sledgehammer missiles. Though the projectiles were far smaller than the missiles they were intended to defeat, it didn't take much to shred an object moving at such high speed; with a combined closing speed of several thousand KPH, the missiles and CIWS bullets shredded each other almost the instant the defenses activated.

They were not quite so fortunate with the beams, and damage alarms howled as coherent light smashed into _Girty Lue_'s stern. It wasn't a direct hit –Neo's quick reaction had managed that much- but the hammer blow splintered armor nonetheless, ravaging the hull.

"Get us under Mirage Colloid immediately," Neo snapped now. "Damage report!"

"Direct hit to stern," Lieutenant Jeffrey Tanner reported from CIC, listening intently to his headset. "Three compartments open to vacuum, but airtight bulkheads have sealed them off; Engine One is a write off, and a power surge reached halfway to the engine room. One Igelstellung was also lost in the hit. The engine room reports, however, that while acceleration has been reduced, overall combat effectiveness should be almost unaffected."

Ian Lee quietly cursed. "That'll make it more difficult for us to escape after the battle," he noted grimly. "_Minerva_ and _Odin _will have an advantage over us in acceleration…"

"It won't matter," Neo said calmly, after a moment's thought. "This ship's forte is stealth, not speed, after all; after we beat off this attack, all we need to do is rig for silent running, and move out under cover of Mirage Colloid. This doesn't really change anything."

"Agreed," Hamilton interjected, and turned back to the hatch. "Shall I head out myself, maybe keep the 105E busy?"

"Good idea," Neo concurred. "But be careful, Commander; I suspect that unit is piloted by the Black Widow, and while she may be rusty, I don't think it'll take her long to recover her old skills… which, if you'll recall, were formidable enough in a GINN."

The pilot snorted. "Hard to forget." _Not as good as the Freedom's pilot, though… the one who killed my father. One day, he'll pay for that… but for now, it's time to just do my duty.  
_

* * *

Earth Orbit, Debris Field

* * *

Lunamaria Hawke was tense, searching carefully around the area and waving her enormous beam cannon at anything that looked like it might move. The three stolen prototypes had disappeared into the debris field just after their initial attack… and that left her very nervous, wondering where they were going to attack from, and when.

_At least we outnumber them,_ she thought, _but that's not much comfort when we can't even _find_ them…_ She'd been separated from the others after the surprise attack, and being in a machine equipped for long-range combat without any backup wasn't making her feel any better.

Then something appeared on her thermal detection screen, and her gaze snapped up in time to see one of the enemy units approaching.

The Gaia, incongruously in mobile armor form, was charging across a section of ruined colony wall, all four legs propelling it in a gallop toward Luna's ZAKU… and firing emerald darts from the beam rifle mounted on its right flank, and powerful green bursts from its shoulder-mounted cannons.

Luna threw herself backwards, catching the beam rifle shot on her shield in an emerald splatter while the more powerful cannon shots scorched past into empty space. _That was too close!_ _Any closer, and I wouldn't be here anymore!_

Gritting her teeth, she swung her Orthros cannon into firing position, locked onto Gaia's course, and triggered off a stream of fiery red energy at the stolen prototype. "See how _you_ like it," she said under her breath.

In Gaia's cockpit, Stellar Loussier's eyes widened, but she didn't let shock slow her reactions. Just before the energy bolt struck, she kicked off from the colony wall, converting back into mobile suit mode on her way out, and boosted across space towards the ZAKU. "You're not getting away!" the Extended shouted. "Not after that!"

Luna saw her shot smash a hole through the colony wreckage instead of Gaia's fuselage, and cursed. _This isn't good,_ she thought._ Well, time to see if I got the red coat for a reason…_

Readying her cannon again, she prepared to clash with Gaia one more time.

* * *

"There they are," Sting Oakley noted to Auel Neider, as the two of them came around a piece of unidentifiable wreckage. "I don't see the Exus or the Phantom, but…"

"The Strike Noir and Impulse are good enough targets," Auel finished. "You take Impulse; I've got Strike Noir."

"Right." With a feral smile, Sting deployed his remote weapon pods, sending them toward the Impulse, while the Abyss accelerated toward the Strike Noir.

"Interesting," Millenia remarked, seeing the two of them split up. "That may be the dumbest thing they've done yet… Shinn, let's play along. You lead Chaos off, while I play tag with the Abyss; just be careful of those gunbarrels."

"Right," Shinn acknowledged, understanding his commander's intent. _You'll pay for what you've done today,_ he promised silently. The pilot of the GuAIZ R had been assigned to _Minerva_ so recently that Shinn hadn't even had the chance to learn the man's name; that, along with the casualties from the initial theft, spurred him to finish the job before anyone else could get hurt. _Leave no one behind. Never abandon your own… that's what he always said._

Impulse was currently configured for heavy bombardment, with the Blast Silhouette attached; that left it less maneuverable than it might've been, but Shinn knew how to use his firepower to make up for the deficiency in agility… and how to make use of the agility he _did_ have. As Impulse's pilot right from the testing phase, he knew it better than anyone, in all modes.

That knowledge was something Sting was unprepared for.

Chaos had only begun to fire the beam assault cannons in its gunbarrels when Shinn suddenly broke hard left, altering the paradigm by flying straight into a large chunk of colony debris; bursts of emerald fire that should've torn Impulse apart instead simply smashed small holes in another piece of debris, while Sting cursed incredulously. "He's fast… but what does he think he's doing, trapping himself like that?" _He has to know I'll just fry him the minute he comes back out of there…_

Meanwhile, Strike Noir and Abyss cautiously circled each other, each seeking an opening; their clash at Armory One itself had left them both eager to finish the job. Millenia held a beam sword in either hand, while Auel charged his chest-mounted multiphase energy cannon in preparation for blowing her away with a single shot.

_At least, that's what I _think_ he's doing,_ Millenia amended silently. _Not that I have any intention of letting it happen._ She smiled to herself. _I intend to finish this as it started… blade to blade. Just like old times…_

Auel smiled as everything came together on his displays. "Goodbye!" Pulling the triggers on his sticks, he unleashed a barrage of half a dozen emerald streaks from his fins, as well as the red-orange bolt from his chest cannon, confidently expecting his target to be blown away in an instant…

Only to see Strike Noir react with startling speed, slashing its beam swords through the beams from the fin-mounted cannons in a single, sweeping arc, which deflected them harmlessly into space. At the same time, Strike Noir somersaulted backwards, leaving the multiphase bolt to scorch by a mere meter from its head.

"Try something more personal," Millenia recommended, still smiling. "A real battle is finished blade to blade, you know; ranged weapons just don't have the same flair to them, after all."

She'd actually transmitted that suggestion; and it was, perhaps, fortunate for Auel's peace of mind that he didn't recognize the voice. If he had, he might've realized that the pilot both sides called the "Black Widow" had gotten that moniker after a number of close-combat engagements which had left her opponents rather worse off. Like the man who'd taught her, Millenia Crescent was a warrior of the ancient school, who preferred to settle her conflicts up close and personal.

Had Auel realized that, he probably wouldn't have had the temerity to do exactly as she suggested.

Blissfully unaware of his enemy's credentials, though, the Extended did indeed pull out a beam lance, and brought the fiery blade to life with a glare. "I'm getting tired of this," he said under his breath. "If you want to die that badly… then let's go."

Taking a moment to take stock of her physical condition –even now, her body still made her nervous from time to time, especially in combat- Millenia then put away her left-hand blade, preferring to engage with just one. Her style wasn't quite the one she'd been taught any longer, as she'd long since put her own spin on things, but even now her preference was a two-handed stance with a single weapon, giving her greater control and power with her strikes.

The two machines observed each other a moment longer… and then moved almost as one, to bring their blazing weapons down on each other…

* * *

On the other side of the debris field, Möbius One's Exus flew carefully alongside Rey Za Burrel's ZAKU Phantom, watching and waiting for a target… a very specific target, one which had not yet revealed itself.

For his part, Ken DiFalco was feeling more uneasy than he had since the day he'd made the decision to bring Rau Le Creuset out of cryogenic stasis. Not only was he wondering about the pilot who'd managed to evade him at Armory One… but he was also concerned about his current wingman. The two of them had wound up flying in tandem after the three stolen prototypes had gone after _Minerva_'s other machines, and since then Ken had realized something about Rey that disturbed him.

At first he'd attributed it to the pilot from Bogey One, the one who'd flown the Exus; after all this time, he'd gotten to know the sensation of a nearby pilot with superior powers of spatial awareness quite well, and from his own piloting experience it was quite obvious one such person was flying the enemy Exus. So, Ken's original assumption was that he was just picking up on him… but now he wasn't so sure.

Because Bogey One had gained some distance from his area of the battle… and yet the feeling was still very close by.

_I'll have to ask Rau about him when I get back to the ship,_ he decided. _Za Burrel wasn't in ZAFT when I was, but Rau might've run into him sometime…_

His thoughts were interrupted by a transmission from his fellow pilot. "I don't see anything here," Rey reported. "…I'm aware of your expertise in this line of work, Möbius One, but I think we should try and join up with the others now."

"Do as you wish, Za Burrel," Ken said calmly, eyes still sweeping the surrounding area. "As a member of Section Nine, not ZAFT, I have no jurisdiction over you; if you believe your duty would be better carried out closer to _Minerva,_ then I suggest you do just that. I, however… my instincts are telling me something, and I have not survived this long by ignoring them." He glanced over at the white Phantom. "I can handle things from here. There's really no need for you to-"

A streak of green fire slashed across space right between his upper gunbarrels, and Ken dove by instinct out of the line of fire. _Who-?_ he wondered, and glanced back.. and understood. In his concentration on the possible presence of the Exus pilot, he'd managed to miss the arrival of a more normal pilot… though "normal" might not have been the best description.

The machine that had fired on him wasn't a Dagger of any sort, he knew; all Dagger variants had the same basic look as the prototypes they'd been based on, and this didn't resemble any of the old G-weapons. It did, however, clearly share one feature with the Strike series: variable weapon loadouts. Currently, it had a winged backpack for extra maneuverability –and, Ken suspected, atmospheric flight- along with several missile pods… which would actually be effective against something like his Exus.

Looking lighter than an equivalent Dagger, with a visor-like optical sensor, large shoulders, and a long communications antenna, it was clearly a new design… one with nonstandard markings, which told Ken it was an above average pilot in the cockpit. Overall black, with a white tiger-stripe pattern, it was a menacing looking machine.

Ken suspected the pilot probably had the skill to back it up, or he wouldn't have been assigned a machine so new not even Section Nine yet knew of it.

"Who are you?" he murmured, almost to himself. "One of the new generation of pilots, inducted only after the Junius Treaty was signed… or one of the old guard, still bitter about your defeat at Second Jachin?"

The ace wasn't expecting an answer… but he got one. "I presume I'm speaking to the enigmatic 'Major'," the enemy pilot said softly. "Or should I say… Möbius One? I hope so, anyway. If not, then deliver this message to him, if you survive: Section Nine has gone too far, and its interference will no longer be tolerated… by the Atlantic Federation, by us, or by the Earth Alliance as a whole."

"Bold statement," Möbius One's altered voice observed. "I suppose you honestly believe you have the power to carry that out?"

"I'm a soldier, Möbius One," the other man said simply, taking the electronic voice as confirmation of his opponent's identity. "A very good one, in fact; and I know I have my comrades behind me, my fellow soldiers. Unlike you, I don't fight alone, or with some upstart 'third party'." His voice changed, pride infusing it. "Unlike you, I know my duty… just as my father knew his. My name is Lieutenant Commander… Allen Hamilton."

Ken's sharp intake of breath must've been audible over the radio, as a moment later Rey –using a private channel- asked, "You know the name?"

"Yes… you could say that…"

Ken's mind flashed back to the Battle of Mendel, old memories he'd not thought on for nearly two years… _"I don't need nukes to deal with you rabble. Admiral Hamilton, launch mobile suits immediately! Our target is the so-called True ZAFT fleet!"_ That had been Muruta Azrael's voice… before another responded.

"_Yes, Director…"_

And Jachin Due… Ken had been there, too, when it all went down, and he remembered the recording of the final transmission from _Dominion,_ as received by _Archangel_ and the Freedom. _"We all must face judgment for our crimes, Director. In the end, justice always prevails…"_

Somehow he doubted this man knew those words… and because of that, he knew this opponent was unlikely to stop until death. For duty… and for revenge.

"Yes," Ken said again, gaze locked on the strange machine, "I know the name. I didn't know he had a son… but I was there when Admiral James Hamilton died." His eye closed for a moment. "My greatest student… was the one who killed him."

Rey's eyebrows went up. "The son of the flag officer aboard _Dominion_ at Jachin Due?"

"Exactly." Ken glanced at the Phantom. "This is someone we can't take chances with, Za Burrel. Because… he's a believer."

A beam scorched right past him, and he instinctively rolled and dove just in time to avoid a follow up shot. "A believer is right," Hamilton agreed. "And one not inclined to just wait around until you're ready to fight back."

_Fair enough,_ the ace admitted to himself. _Unfortunately, I don't have time to deal with this son of a bastard._ "Za Burrel," he radioed, "if you can, I need you to hold him off for now. The way things are going now, I don't think it'll be long before the pilot from before launches, and frankly, I don't trust anyone else to deal with _him._ You understand?"

Rey nodded slowly. "Affirmative, Möbius One." He lifted his own rifle. "You defend _Minerva,_ and I'll hold off Hamilton."

"Gracias."

The Exus' thrusters ignited, kicking it around in a brutal one-eighty turn, and the mobile armor raced off in another direction, leaving the two mobile suits facing each other… something which puzzled Hamilton.

"The great 'Major', just running away?" he mused. "How strange…"

"He's not running away," Rey retorted. _I think…_ "He just has more pressing duties." His finger tightened on the trigger. "As do I."

Hamilton's weapon came up, as well, and the two fired at the same time.

* * *

_Girty Lue,_ Bridge

* * *

"So far, so good," Neo murmured to himself, watching his Dagger Ls harass _Minerva._ "We've taken some damage, but it appears that the battle is still proceeding in our favor… even with Möbius One's presence."

"He was better than I expected," Lee admitted, his own gaze fixed on the battle from which they hid, while they repaired what they could. "He's made a name for himself as a planner and operational commander, but until today he'd never ventured out to participate in an operation directly. I would've expected…"

"He was somewhat more skilled than I anticipated, also," the masked captain acknowledged. "Nonetheless, I assumed from the outset he would at least be above average; no ordinary pilot would've been assigned to such a duty." He shrugged. "It won't matter, though. He's only one mobile armor; if nothing else, Commander Hamilton's Windam will be able to finish him." He paused. "In theory, at least."

He would've been certain, given Hamilton's impressive record… were it not for his own experience battling the "Major". Good enough to survive going up against Neo's own Exus without receiving a scratch… and there was something about him…

Lee looked at him curiously. It wasn't like his commanding officer to be so preoccupied, particularly about just one man. _Maybe he's taking this more seriously than he cares to admit?_ he hazarded. _Expressing confidence in front of the troops, I guess…_

After a few moments, he cleared his throat. "Are you… thinking of going out there yourself, Captain? To engage Möbius One?"

Neo rubbed the left eyehole of his mask absently. "I'm considering it, yes," he admitted. "I actually rather suspect that's what he _wants_ me to do… but I have to admit I'm just as curious about him as he seems to be about me." He shook his head minutely. "Not just yet, though. Status report?"

"Hull breaches contained," Lee replied, inwardly grateful to turn his attention to more prosaic matters. "The engine will remain out of action until we can return to proper repair facilities, but Commander Watkins believes we can replace the Igelstellung from onboard stores, and compensate somewhat for the loss of acceleration by narrowing the safety margins on the other engines a few percent."

"The design engineers are always more conservative than they need to be," the masked captain remarked, nodding. "Tell Commander Watkins it's approved. Now… what about the engagement?"

"_Minerva_ is still on the defensive," Barrows reported, and nodded at the main display. "We're coming up on them again, and they're nearing a tight space, Sir; we should be able to hem them in and open fire from the rear, pound away at their rear armor."

"Hm…" Neo considered that for several moments, then shook his head. "No. Hem them in, yes; but attempting to destroy them with direct Gottfried fire would leave us exposed to another attack from _Odin,_ and we might not survive that again." He frowned behind his mask, examining the area their Dagger Ls were herding _Minerva_ into. A cluster of asteroid, as well as the one large rock the ship was using as a kind of shield…

_I think we can use that… Probability of successful attack with Gottfrieds: ninety-nine percent for first three seconds, dropping to zero within five seconds, due to _Odin_'s inevitable interference. Probability of success by firing missile barrage at _Minerva:_ forty percent at best; the warheads aren't powerful enough to bring her down within a reasonable period of time. Probability of success if missiles are launched into the asteroids, blasting free large pieces: seventy-eight percent…_

Neo nodded to himself. "All right. Commander Barrows, target the large asteroid and the surrounding rocks with missiles. We'll use them as improvised kinetic weapons to batter _Minerva_ to scrap." He stood. "Have the hangar prepare my Exus. While you're finishing them off, I'm going to see about dealing with Möbius One personally. Section Nine's roamed unchecked for quite long enough."

* * *

_Minerva,_

Bridge

* * *

_Minerva_ vibrated once more from a direct hit by a burst of laser fire, and Kira and Cagalli exchanged concerned glances. The hit itself was of little consequence –a Dagger L's beam rifle wasn't powerful enough to cause serious damage to a ship of such size, at least not very quickly- but the fact that the enemy mobile suits were still able to fire with impunity wasn't a good sign.

_Odin_ had been forced to fall back, unable to assist _Minerva_ in such close confines, and was now engaged in a search for Bogey One; for much the same reason,_ Minerva_ herself was unable to use much of her weaponry, as doing so would likely do more harm than good with chunks of rock all over the place, and the two Dagger Ls too close for anything but the CIWS to even draw a bead on them.

_The weakness of any ship to airpower,_ Kira thought, reflecting on the naval history his teacher had introduced him to during and after the war. _Once they get this close, only our own mobile suits could do much to stop them… and they're already busy._

His reverie was interrupted by an abrupt call of, "Missiles launched!"

Talia glanced back at Heim. "From where?" she demanded.

"Somewhere astern," he replied, typing rapidly at his console. "Precise launch point unknown; they're still under Mirage Colloid."

Kira glanced briefly at Durandal, received a nod, and pulled himself over to Heim's station. _They're trying to prevent _Odin_ from hitting them again,_ he realized. _But missiles aren't going to be much of a threat to this ship… unless…_ He examined the trajectory data for three endless seconds… and then understood.

"Captain," he said quickly, "those missiles aren't targeted directly at us. With their present course, they'll overshoot and hit the debris field, instead. If we don't move away, we'll be hit by the resulting debris!"

Talia's eyes widened, and then she, too, understood. _Sneaky,_ a corner of her mind thought. _Very sneaky…_ "Malik, hard to port, now!"

The helmsman complied instantly, bringing _Minerva_'s bow around… just as the missiles from Bogey One impacted on the asteroid's outer surface. Rippling shockwaves blasted across it, tearing free chunks of rock, which in turn hurtled out toward the ship.

One large boulder –nearly as large as the ship herself- vanished in an emerald flash as _Odin_ employed desperate measures, but the others were coming too fast. Several missed completely… but more were right on target.

The vibrations from the Dagger Ls' attacks were nothing compared to the shaking as rocks slammed into _Minerva_'s outer hull. Kira was faintly surprised it didn't rattle the entire ship apart; as it was, he was certain the outer hull was taking a beating. _A testament to the design that we're not dead yet,_ he thought distantly.

"Damage to outer hull!" Trine called unnecessarily. "Hull breaches on Decks Three and Four; several compartments open to space. Airtight bulkheads are holding, but if we take any more hits like that, we won't make it!"

"Concur," Heim said tightly. "And… one fragment is drifting directly into our path." He turned to look directly at Talia. "We're trapped, Ma'am, and one of the Dagger Ls is approaching-"

Before he could finish the sentence, the enemy mobile suit appeared directly in front of the bridge… and its beam rifle was raised.

Time seemed to stop for Cagalli, as she stared into what she believed to be certain death; she was dimly aware of others present beginning to react to the same sight. _No,_ she thought distantly, fear only beginning to take hold. _No, it can't end here, not after everything… not when I still have responsibilities to Orb!_

For Kira, gripping Cagalli's shoulder as reassuringly as he could, it was a sense of déjà vu, remembering the Battle of Alaska, when he'd saved the _Archangel_ from a similar fate. _But this time, there's no rescue, no Freedom to come,_ he thought, starting to close his eyes. _There's just-_

A scarlet line appeared across the Dagger L's midsection, ripped through at the level of the cockpit, and blazed past… leaving the mobile suit to blow itself apart in a shower of fragments before it could fire the fatal shot.

Talia blinked, taken aback. "What the…?"

A face appeared on the display, masked but nonetheless familiar… a feeling reinforced when the gunbarrel that had destroyed the Dagger L rendezvoused with a slate-gray Exus. _"I had a hunch you could use some assistance, amigos,"_ Möbius One noted. _"And it looks like I was right."_

"Your assistance was timely, and appreciated, Major," Talia informed him sincerely. "Though I thought you were waiting for your own target to show himself."

"_I am,"_ he acknowledged. _"But I rather think Bogey One is closer to you than to my previous position; and Za Burrel is handling the enemy who tried to intercept me there. I'm not certain of the others at present, save for being sure they're still in the fight, but…"_

He trailed off… and wrenched his mobile armor into an ascending spiral as a hurricane of emerald darts reached out for him, followed by the quartet of gunbarrels that had spat them, and the Exus behind _them._

"_Pardon me,"_ Ken said a moment later, voice tense but otherwise normal. _"It appears I've got to swat an annoying fly."_

In the blink of an eye, the two mobile armors were gone, chasing each other away from the _Minerva._

"Well," Durandal said, breaking the silence, "it appears this battle is becoming… complex." He looked over at Talia. "Is there anyone we can send out to assist the Major?"

She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. We do have an additional mobile suit, but no pilots; and from what Möbius One had to say, the pilots we _do_ have are all busy." She sighed. "He's on his own… as are we, until we break out of our current predicament."

* * *

Earth Orbit, Debris Field

* * *

Streaks of red-orange fire blazed across space, lighting up the blackness with bright lights… bright lights meant to kill.

The powerful blasts of energy were responded to with a staccato of emerald fire, coming from the opposite direction… and a constantly-moving pair of aimpoints insured difficulty in targeting the source of the retaliatory fire.

Mere minutes earlier, Impulse had burst out of hiding and announced itself with a hail of missile fire; now Shinn exchanged blasts of focused radiation with the Chaos, which used its gunbarrels in an attempt to gain an advantage over him.

_But I'm not going to let him beat me,_ he thought grimly, and unleashed another barrage from both beam cannons simultaneously.

Sting cursed, throwing himself out of the path of the bolts just before they could hit, and fired off a burst from the Picus machineguns mounted in his shield, trying to tear Impulse's cannons apart. If he could do that, he could practically finish off the machine at his leisure…

Shinn wasn't about to let that happen, though; nor did it take much skill to prevent it. Knowing exactly what Chaos' capabilities and armament were, he knew perfectly well that the armed shield used projectile weapons only. With that in mind, he kicked in his thrusters to put him into a spin, and took the burst on his VPS-protected back, before swinging around to face Chaos again. _Too easy._

"Bastard," Sting hissed, and maneuvered his gunbarrels in again. "I'm going to finish you off right now!" Hitting the triggers, he unleashed a barrage of small missiles and another staccato burst of laser fire at the Impulse.

The black-haired pilot didn't allow himself the luxury of cursing; he just boosted power to his thrusters, jetting straight at the Chaos while jinking from side to side to avoid the beams, and triggered his CIWS, sending out a hail of bullets that tore the missiles to shreds.

Sting cursed again, and prepared to fire his chest-mounted Callidus cannon… but at the moment of discharge, a black shape slammed into him and propelled him sideways. "What the-!"

"I'll kill you for that!" Stellar Loussier snarled from Gaia's cockpit, already recovering her bearings (and ignoring Chaos completely). "Why won't you just go down!"

Fully as startled as Sting, Shinn glanced around the area in confusion, before spotting a red ZAKU coming his way, beam cannon at the ready. "Luna!" he called. "Nice work!"

Luna smiled. "She got too close; I kicked her when she got cocky." She jerked her head toward the large asteroid the conflict orbited. "Rey's off dueling with some kind of mobile suit I've never seen before; we'll have to help _Minerva_ ourselves… if we can break away from these guys."

Shinn nodded. "Right," he agreed. Then he hesitated. "What about Möbius One? Is he…?"

"Fighting the Exus from before," she answered. "It looks like he's too busy to directly assist the ship right now."

"Okay, I got it." He lifted his cannons, and nodded to his friend and fellow pilot. "All right, let's do it. Fire!"

He pulled the triggers on his cannons, and Luna opened fire at the same moment, sending three bolts of fire from two different directions at the stolen mobile suits.

"Move it!" Sting snapped at Stellar, and boosted straight "up" and away from the shooting himself. He wasn't crazy enough to get in the crossfire of three high-energy beam cannons; not when multiple angles of attack were involved.

Stellar, for all her near-berserker anger, was still an excellent pilot, and she reacted with lightning-fast reflexes of her own, throwing Gaia to one side… but not quite fast enough, as a red-orange streak smashed into Gaia's left leg. A graze, rather than a direct hit, it still blasted free a chunk of armor, and sent damage warnings across Stellar's display, as short-circuits shut down the leg from the knee down.

_Minerva_'s pilots had finally struck a blow… and it wouldn't be the last.

* * *

_That mobile suit,_ Rey Za Burrel thought, exchanging fire with Allen Hamilton. _It's not a Dagger design… but it looks familiar. Wait… it's faint, but that looks like… X12A? But that should've been lost when True ZAFT destroyed GENESIS Alpha, two years ago. So how could they have gotten any information on it…?_

"A simple ZAKU, even a Phantom, isn't going to stop me, rookie," Hamilton called. "This is our latest design… and I survived Second Jachin." He smiled thinly. "It took a special breed of pilot to survive that battle, especially with the Butcher Bird flying around, obliterating anyone who got near him."

Rey didn't bother to respond; instead, he fired off a salvo of missiles from his Wizard pack, intending to batter Hamilton's machine to a wreck without actually destroying it. _Gil needs to know about this. This isn't a catastrophe, but it still isn't part of the plan; we need to determine how much the possible continued existence of Testament changes things._

The missile attack might well have worked against another pilot, but Hamilton was indeed the veteran he proclaimed himself to be… and clearly intimately familiar with the capabilities of his new machine, even if it had never before been tested in battle. Rather than being battered by Rey's missile barrage, he instead launched one of his own, directing them on a kamikaze course that intercepted the incoming weapons.

The two flights of missiles collided, annihilating each other in what became a single, massive explosion… one which blinded both machines' optical and thermal sensors.

Hamilton had one priceless advantage over Rey at this moment: he'd known it was coming. Having piloted a Fortresta-equipped Duel Dagger during the final engagements of the Bloody Valentine War, he'd used the tactic before to cloud his enemies' vision, before moving in for the kill… and now he boosted directly into the fireball, beam rifle raised and ready to fire the moment he had a target.

The tactic might well have worked against another pilot… but Rey, while lacking in actual combat experience, was cunning in his own right, with trained instincts several Academy instructors –themselves veterans of battles like Second Jachin- had honed to a fine edge during training.

By the time Hamilton's machine emerged from the explosion, Rey had already twisted his Phantom around, and the emerald dart the older pilot instinctively fired on sight slammed into his left shoulder-shield, spattering harmlessly against it instead of piercing his torso as Hamilton had expected.

A moment later, Rey returned fire.

"Better than I thought," Hamilton grunted, managing to bat the retaliatory beam aside with his own shield. "I guess ZAFT hasn't slacked off training its new recruits… Hm." _Then let's try this the old fashioned way…_

Clamping his beam rifle onto his right thigh, Hamilton pulled out a beam saber, and ignited the fiery weapon. _See how he likes close combat!_

Rey saw it coming, and yanked out a beam tomahawk in response, igniting it just in time to clash with Hamilton's blade. _He's not like the other pilots we've fought,_ he realized. _The ones who stole the prototypes were good, but clearly inexperienced, despite their enhanced capabilities. This one… he _does_ have experience, and greater raw ability than his fellows._

_In the future, he could be more dangerous than the other three combined._

With that thought in mind, Rey shifted more power into his thrusters and the actuators in his Phantom's arms, using it to thrust the new mobile suit away. Then, capitalizing on the minor success, he went on the offensive, slashing across with his axe.

Hamilton nodded in appreciation. _A genuine challenge… well, it looks like carrying out my mission will at least be interesting today._ "All right, then," he said aloud, adroitly parrying the relatively clumsy axe.

"Let's see just how long you can hold out, hotshot."

* * *

Strike Noir's blade clashed with Abyss' beam lance, and Millenia realized with no small satisfaction that she was beginning to get the hang of the increased reaction speed of her new body… and that she was finally beginning to recover her old skill.

_Finally,_ she thought, drawing back and then nudging aside a clumsy thrust, _I'm getting back in the groove… back to how I was before Alaska. Eighteen months in stasis didn't completely ruin my skills after all…_

"What's up with this thing, anyway?" Auel wondered, in Abyss' cockpit. "Why won't it just go down?" He'd been fully briefed on the Strike Noir after it had been stolen by Section Nine, and while he didn't remember all of the data, he was fairly sure nothing in it had indicated it could react _this_ fast.

Snarling in silent frustration, he reversed thrust, gaining some distance so that he could safely fire his Callidus cannon… only to see Strike Noir charge into pointblank range again, forcing him to hastily ward it off with his lance.

"Now, now," Millenia chided, "where do we think we're going? I told you we'd finish this blade to blade… even if that lance of yours is one of the most ridiculous melee weapons I've ever seen on a mobile suit." She snorted. "Even the axes used by ZAKUs make more sense than that thing. However… if you really want to try ranged combat, I can work with that, too."

To Auel's surprise, she actually backed off, giving him time to charge his Callidus. _What does this Coordinator think she's doing? Well… if she wants to die that badly, I'll be happy to oblige._ Beginning to smile, he squeezed the trigger…

And Strike Noir's linear guns snapped into firing position, spitting out a pair of hyper-velocity projectiles, while the machine itself jerked sideways to avoid the multiphase energy bolt.

The bullets hit their mark with unerring accuracy, smashing into the Callidus itself with brutal power. Ineffective against the rest of the machine, the projectiles successfully smashed the weapon's aperture to useless junk.

Auel's eyes widened in shock; and in her own cockpit, Millenia smiled. "Always beware of when an enemy does exactly what you want them to do," she said pleasantly. "When something looks too stupid to be true… it usually is. 'Only seldom is true surprise achieved in battle; usually, it is simply that the commander misinterprets what he's seen all along.' That's Lesson Thirty-eight, in case you're interested."

"Why, you…!" Now truly furious, the Extended snapped his fins wide, and unleashed a barrage of massed laser fire at the Strike Noir, hoping to saturate it and finally rid himself of this incredibly irritating adversary.

Millenia merely smiled wider, raised her shield, and charged right into the massed fire, beam sword ready…

* * *

"So," Ken observed, diving beneath a hail of emerald fire, "it's you again, is it? I wonder… who are you, really?"

Neo didn't respond to the transmission; he was more concerned with rolling away from a pair of shells from Möbius One's linear guns… and with not giving away any information that might be gleaned from a transmission.

_He may be able to speak,_ the masked captain thought to himself, _but he uses a voice synthesizer… and he obviously realizes I've already figured out that he's M__ö__bius One. I, on the other hand, have given him no clues at all as to my identity. Or so I assume, at any rate, from the fact that he's still asking me who I am…_

Since chasing each other away from _Minerva,_ the two pilots had engaged in a running dogfight, sending their wireless gunbarrels at each other in increasingly complex flight patterns, all the while engaging one another with their onboard weaponry… and so far having effectively no success at all.

By now, both Exus' had expended their onboard missile supplies, and were limited to spitting hyper-velocity projectiles across space, while also trying to outflank each other with their gunbarrels, sometimes with bursts of laser fire, sometimes by trying slice each other to pieces.

Both had the feeling by now that the battle could go either way very easily… or even go on indefinitely, as each tried to get the upper-hand over the other.

Ken, dipping beneath a staccato burst of laser fire, found himself increasingly frustrated… and confused. _I haven't faced anyone this good since Kira and I fought at Jachin… who _is_ he? And why does his fighting feel familiar? Have I fought him before, at some time in the past?_

The two mobile armors raced at each other in a head-on pass, and broke away an instant before they could collide, unleashing a mutual barrage of emerald energy from their gunbarrels that turned the area in a brief-lived spider web of green fire, which they had to twist and turn through before coming around to engage each other again.

_This one is no ordinary pilot,_ Neo determined, eyes narrowing. _This one… he's definitely one of True ZAFT's aces. No one else could possibly be fighting like this; not and bother to hide his identity, at any rate. So…_ _which one? Could it actually be…?_

Möbius One gave him no time to ruminate on the matter, instead recalling his gunbarrels to cluster around himself, before unleashing a withering hail of emerald darts and hyper-velocity slugs from his linear guns.

Neo cursed, pulled straight up, and sent his own gunbarrels back after the renegade Exus. _Let's see you how long you can dodge, M__ö__bius One._

Ken had pulled up after him, entering into a stern chase; it should've left him in the superior position… but he hadn't quite counted on Neo's gunbarrels coming straight back at him, opening fire at the same moment he did.

One of Neo's gunbarrels was shredded an instant later, hit dead-on by three lasers and a linear gun slug… and Ken's Exus shuddered from an impact just aft of the cockpit, sending it into a spin.

Even the ace known as Möbius One was momentarily disoriented by the unexpected hit, and only dimly realized one of his own gunbarrels had blown apart in the same exchange. _Counteract the spin,_ he thought, distracted from his target. _Get back in control before you run into something and explode…_

"Hm," Neo murmured, glancing back at the now-tumbling Section Nine machine. "So, you _can_ be hurt… good." Inwardly, though, he knew it was hardly a good sign that it took even _him_ that long just to land a hit. If it had been one of his subordinates facing Möbius One…

He might've been interested to know that he had done far better than ninety-percent of the pilots who had ever flown against Ken DiFalco.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

_Well,_ Gilbert Durandal thought, _at least the enemy seems to have been distracted from coming at us directly…_

Between their own mobile suits and the assistance of the Major's mobile armor, all but a single Dagger L had been drawn away from _Minerva_ herself; and it appeared that, aside from occasion missile salvos, Bogey One was too concerned with possible attacks from _Odin_ to engage directly.

That did not, unfortunately, mean that they were winning the battle. The single Dagger L was doing little more than harrying them, but they remained quite literally trapped between a rock and a hard place, by the asteroids and debris surrounding them. Until they found a way clear of it, they could not bring the battle to a decisive conclusion.

Standing almost unnoticed toward the aft of the bridge, Kira's mind was working furiously, trying to find a solution. _There's gotta be a way,_ he thought, _but _what?_ They've got us hemmed in, and even if they can't do anything decisive right _now,_ all they have to do is…_

His breath caught momentarily. _All they have to do is wait for the mobile suits –and Ken- to run out of power, and then they can destroy them at their leisure… and then come after us almost completely unopposed._

Cagalli glanced at him, detecting his brief lapse. "Kira?" she said quietly, looking at him worriedly. "Are you okay?"

He shook himself. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just… trying to figure a way out of this mess."

"We'll make it," she said encouragingly. "We've been through worse than this, remember. The right idea will come to you, or to Captain Gladys… or to Ken."

"Yeah," Kira agreed quietly, though far from convinced. "Yeah, I'm sure it…" He trailed off, as something new occurred to him. _Wait a minute… if we try anything by the Book, the Dagger L will notice, and head us off again… but what if we try something so crazy no one would ever expect it?_

He carefully stepped forward, ignoring Cagalli's confused look. "Captain," he began, "can you tell me how many starboard thrusters are still operational?"

Talia blinked, startled by his abrupt question. "Pardon me, Commander Yamato, but that information is somewhat sensitive…"

"The enemy can probably see it as well as we can, Captain," Durandal pointed out diffidently. "There's no harm at this point. Besides, I think the Commander may have thought of something the rest of us haven't. He did train under two of the best strategists ZAFT ever produced, after all, and survived Second Jachin."

She thought about that for a moment. _Good point,_ she conceded inwardly. _At this point, classifications are effectively meaningless; survival is more important. And if he's as good as the Grimaldi Falcon or the Desert Tiger…_

"We have six surviving starboard thrusters," Talia said finally. "Others were damaged by debris, but those are still functional. Why?"

Kira took a deep breath. "In that case, I suggest you activate all of them, and at the same time use all starboard weaponry against the asteroid itself. The combined force of the thrusters and the explosion should push us into open space before the Dagger L can react."

"But that's crazy!" Trine protested instantly. "If we do that, the blast alone could further damage us, and the additional debris-!"

"If we stay like this, we'll just be a sitting duck," Kira retorted. "Sooner or later the Dagger is going to manage to break through, or the mobile suits will run out of power, allowing the rest of them to come finish us off. We have to do something _now."_

Talia might've taken offense to the sharp tone with which he addressed her exec, but in this case… "Commander Yamato is right," she said firmly, before Trine could protest further. "It's a chance we'll have to take." She glanced over her shoulder. "Chen, prepare to fire all starboard weapons; Meyrin, get in touch with _Odin,_ and see about coordinating the attack with them. The more firepower that can be brought to bear on Bogey One, the better."

"Yes, Ma'am." Meyrin raised a hand to her headset. "_Odin,_ this is _Minerva,_ requesting fire support against Bogey One once maneuvers are in progress."

"_Roger that,"_ Chance replied. _"We'll be ready."_

"Weapons ready, Captain," Chen reported a moment later.

"Helm ready as well," Yardbirds concurred.

Smiling, Cagalli reached over and squeezed Kira's hand. "I told you the right idea would come to you," she whispered.

"We won't know it was the right one till it works," he pointed out, but inwardly he agreed with her. _This is the right one… I can feel it…_

Talia waited a beat, checking for herself to make sure all was in readiness, then nodded sharply. "Malik, Chen, commence maneuver!"

* * *

_Girty Lue,_ Bridge

* * *

"They're in dire straits now," Barrows observed, watching _Minerva_'s struggle with both the debris and the remaining Dagger L. "We could probably take the time to finish her off with minimal chance of interference from _Odin,_ Commander."

Lee didn't reply at first, instead taking in the situation himself. _They're definitely in trouble,_ he conceded to himself. _Their mobile suits scattered, their ship damaged, and caught in a debris field… and _Odin_ doesn't know where we are yet._

"All right," he said aloud, "we don't have any orders from Captain Roanoke, but I think you're right, Commander. Target all Gottfrieds on _Minerva,_ and fire as soon as you have positive target lock."

"Aye, Sir," Barrows acknowledged, and the ship's fire-control officer bent to the task without waiting for further prompting.

"Target locked," the man announced within moments. "Opening fi-"

Before he could finish the statement –or the action that went with it- a brilliant flash erupted from the direction of the _Minerva,_ engulfing the remaining Dagger L in the process. The entire area was briefly consumed in light, blinding anyone who tried to see into it.

"What just happened?" Lee demanded. "Did they destroy themselves, or…?"

The flash faded… and his question was answered, as _Minerva_ emerged from the blast on a course directly _at_ them, with a large, single-barrel weapon protruding from the bow.

In that instant, Lee realized instinctively what the weapon had to be. "Evasive maneuvers!" he ordered hurriedly. "Lower bow pitch angle ninety, right roll thirty!"

In the span of two seconds, _Girty Lue_ heeled over, desperately trying to avoid the burst of positron fire Lee had realized was about to come… as well as any fire from the rear. And in those same two seconds, Chen Jian Yee triggered the _Minerva_'s Tannhauser cannon… while Frank Castile set off _Odin_'s Gottfried beam cannon.

Had _Minerva_'s strike been a clean hit, _Girty Lue_ would've simply ceased to exist, its matter converted entirely to energy; as it was, the positron stream grazed her starboard side, obliterating armor plating and spectacularly detonating the engine _Odin_ had already damaged… while _Odin_'s own emerald fire smashed one of _Girty_ Lue's Gottfrieds to slag.

_Girty Lue_ staggered, leaking air and trailing molten armor…

* * *

Earth Orbit, Debris Field

* * *

The two Exus units had just flashed past each other, making another futile attempt to blast each other to bits –an attempt hampered by Neo's loss of a gunbarrel and Ken's damaged thrusters- when Neo realized something was wrong.

Pulling away long enough to check his instruments, his eyes widened at the sight of the data he received. _They've taken damage? So…_ Minerva_ got out of the trap…_

As he was contemplating the bare-bones damage report, Lee's voice came up over his radio. _"Captain, this is Lee,"_ he said. _"I'm sorry, Sir, but we've taken serious damage, and I don't believe we can continue the engagement any longer."_

Neo nodded. "Understood, Ian; and don't blame yourself. It looks like they've just got someone a little smarter than we expected." Pouring more energy into his thrusters, he easily pulled away from his enemy's damaged mobile armor, heading back toward his own ship. "Send out a recall order, then; we've done enough, for now. I'm on my way back as well."

"_Understood, Sir."_ Ahead, _Girty Lue_'s flanks were suddenly illuminated by light from signal flares, informing her mobile suits it was time to retreat.

As he himself neared the ship, Neo finally switched to a frequency he was sure his opponent would be able to intercept, and keyed in interference to disguise his voice. "Another time, Möbius One," he called. "Believe me, though, you've not seen the last of me… and next time, our battle will go very differently."

In his own cockpit, Ken didn't respond. _I'm sure,_ he thought to himself. _Because next time, I'm going to fly something that can eat you for breakfast…_ The damage he'd sustained in the battle genuinely concerned him; there weren't many pilots who'd ever managed to do that to him, and at present most of them were on _his_ side. _I need to find out who that pilot is. He has the same level of spatial awareness I do, and raw skill on par with ZAFT's greatest aces. Of all the pilots I know, only Kira could truly outmatch this one, I can tell…  
_

* * *

Allen Hamilton had just shoved Rey's ZAKU Phantom away when he, too received the recall order, and he shut down his beam saber with a certain reluctance. "Pity," he murmured. "Well, I suppose that means our job here is done… and perhaps we've gotten enough data to complete Project Zeta now…" He turned to look at the Phantom. "Sorry to cut this off, but I'm sure we'll meet again some day." He smiled thinly. "Next time, though, I think only one of us will be walking away."

Before Rey could react, he spun his machine around, and boosted away at high speed. _I'm sure of it,_ Rey thought, watching it go. _That design was influenced by the Testament, somehow… and the pilot is no ordinary one. He was toying with me… and if he hadn't been recalled, he would've eventually finished me off._

It was beginning to look like only the best pilots on all sides had survived Jachin Due… and those veterans were forming an experienced core, especially among the nations of Earth, which would give even elite groups like ZAFT's Special Forces or Section Nine genuine difficulty.

Not far away, the stolen prototypes were also breaking away, leaving _Minerva_'s pilots behind. All three of them were at least a little battered, with Abyss having taken the brunt of it; by contrast, Impulse and Luna's ZAKU had a few grazes, while Strike Noir was pristine.

"Well," Shinn remarked, closing his eyes, "at least we're okay… but I wish we hadn't let them get away like that again."

"We did our best," Luna pointed out. "We may not have recaptured them, but we proved we can at least hold our own against them. I'm sure we'll have another chance at them, Shinn, and by then we'll have an even better idea of what we're doing."

"She's right," Millenia interjected. "You've been flying Impulse for over a month now, Shinn… but that was only your second combat sortie. You can't expect to become an expert instantly, you know; everyone needs experience."

"I guess…" Shinn sighed, and glanced briefly at the slate-gray Exus limping toward them. "But what about _him?_ I heard he did well during the blockade, four years ago…"

"Yes," she conceded, "he did. However, the Major was facing mobile _armors_ during that time, and they were only basic Möbius units, at that. No mobile suit pilot I know of has ever had any trouble shooting down Möbiuses." _Though it _is_ true,_ she added silently, _that Falcon was better at it than most of his peers…_

But that, too, was ancient history now. Whether she liked it or not, Ken DiFalco had put ZAFT behind him…

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"Our mobile suits are running low on power, Captain," Meyrin reported, glancing up from her console. "No more than ninety seconds effective combat time remaining; after that, they'll require recharge to continue the engagement."

"It's just as well," Durandal put in, before Talia could respond. "Despite their damage, Bogey One is clearly able to escape, and they've already gotten their mobile suits out of range; also, we have damage of our own to worry about. I think we're going to have to let them go for now, Captain."

Talia sighed. "I suppose you're right. Well, they'll be sure to turn up again eventually; I doubt they stole them merely for the technical data. All right, Meyrin, send out recall orders to our own units."

"Right away, Captain!"

The captain turned to Kira and Cagalli. "Lady Cagalli, Commander Yamato, I apologize for the delays involved here. Now that the battle seems to be over, though, we should be able to get a ship out here to pick you up, and then get you back down to Earth."

Cagalli nodded. "We appreciate it, Captain. We'd ask _Odin _to do it, but…"

"It looks like they're going to be busy trying to track down Bogey One themselves," Kira finished for her. "I don't think the Major is going to let this go." He paused, glancing away for a moment. "Speaking of what just happened… I think I may have overstepped my bounds there, Captain. I'm sorry about that."

Talia shook her head. "Nothing to apologize for, Commander. You had the right idea at the right time; had you not suggested that, we might not have been able to drive them off. You probably just saved all our lives."

He shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. "Well… maybe."

Cagalli smiled inwardly. _So Kira still doesn't like to be told he actually saved someone's life, huh?_ She remembered that from a time in the Libyan desert, two years before… "Well," she said aloud, "I guess there's no more reason for either us of to be here. If you'll excuse us, Captain?"

Talia nodded. "Certainly. You'll find a lounge not far from here; I'll have someone assign you quarters later."

"Thank you, Captain."

* * *

Earth Orbit, Debris Field

* * *

"Well," Millenia observed, seeing the scorch marks and missing pieces on the rear fuselage of Ken's Exus, "you look like you've had an interesting day, Falcon. Run into an asteroid during your merry chase or something?"

Ken grimaced. "Hardly. That fellow in the other Exus turned out to be better than I expected, even after our last encounter. He and I managed to shoot each other up, with him losing a gunbarrel and me nearly losing my engines."

She shrugged. "Could be worse; at least this time you came out of tough exchange without needing a complete refit or an entirely new machine. That may be a first, for you."

He snorted. "Considering my many and varied close encounters with nuclear weapons and overstressed mobile suits, you're probably right about that. Still… he worries me. The last time I had that much trouble was against Kira, and then Rau… and there aren't many pilots like them around. Even Athrun Zala couldn't have done that to me, were he capable of flying a machine like that."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to figure it out," Millenia mused. "Something tells me you're not going to just let this go."

"No, I'm not." Ken's eye narrowed. "This is Section Nine's true mission, after all…"

"Hm; I suspected as much. So," she went on, changing the subject, "what do you think of Shinn, now that you've seen him in actual battle?"

"He's no Demon," he replied, after a moment's thought. "He still has issues with his temper, though I see he at least kept _that_ on a leash… this time. Until he truly masters it, though, an experienced pilot will be able to defeat him with fair ease, just by provoking him a little. Still…" He nodded slowly.

"Still…?" Millenia prompted.

"He's no Demon… but he has potential."

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

After a grueling battle, _Girty Lue_ has been forced into retreat… but _Minerva_ has been damaged as well, and Ken DiFalco's Exus has been put out of action, at least for now, in battle against a foe of unknown origin and startling capability… and meanwhile, other currents swirl beneath the surface, as the son of Admiral Hamilton presides over a project to turn the tide…

I'd apologize for this chapter being late, except that it was somewhat unavoidable; even I can't write something this long _that_ fast. It probably won't be the last of its kind, either, considering how massive the battles Ken DiFalco becomes involved in tend to be. Looks like it's going to be quite the ride, though…

In any case, let me know how this one was. If nothing else, I expect there were a couple of surprises… and foreshadowing… -Solid Shark


	5. Chapter 5: Shooting Stars

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

* * *

_Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

Rau Le Creuset sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Well," he mused to no one in particular, "that battle could've gone better."

Jason Chance glanced at him, and shook his head. "At least we got out of this one intact," he pointed out. _"Minerva_ took some hits, sure, and they lost their GuAIZ Rs, but other than that, this was a tactical victory for us."

"But a strategic defeat," Rau countered. "The objective was to retrieve or destroy the stolen ZAFT prototypes, and sanction Bogey One; we accomplished neither mission. If those were indeed Earth Forces, you can be sure they'll exhaustively examine the data from those machines… and I might point out that this is also the first time Section Nine has failed to accomplish a mission. That may not affect morale much, but it will certainly affect the way outsiders view us."

"That's not the only problem," Tom Delaney said grimly, pulling himself to the bow of the bridge. "There's what happened to the Boss to consider, as well. Jason, you didn't join us until after the Battle of Mendel, so maybe you don't realize this, but what that enemy Exus pilot achieved was a _very_ rare occurrence."

"Shooting up the Major's machine?" Chance hazarded. "I realize that's not a good thing, Tom, but I seem to remember the Major getting badly mauled a few times during the War; it's not exactly earth-shattering."

"Wrong," the engineer disputed. "Look at it this way, Jason: in the cases you cite, special conditions applied. The Bloody Valentine was a case of him flying _himself_ to pieces; the Battle of Endymion involved a Cyclops system. After defecting to the _Archangel,_ he was faced not only with machines of essentially equal performance, but also pilots who knew him well, and after reaching Earth that was compounded by his inexperience with gravity. Subsequent to obtaining Preybird, he first encountered nuclear weapons, then Kira Yamato –the one pilot he acknowledges as his superior- as well as a positron cannon, and Rau here with Providence." He shook his head. "There aren't many pilots out there who could have done this to him… and the fact that it was done while they were in identical machines bothers me."

That, Chance had to admit, was a point. Ken DiFalco was hardly invincible… but he'd long since progressed beyond worrying about anyone but the very best pilots. For him to take such damage when they were in functionally identical mobile armors… _Not to mention that the Major came out of it with _worse_ damage,_ he reminded himself. _We're used to thinking of him as one of the best; we need to remember that doesn't make him invincible._

"There's one more problem," Leanne Eldridge put in, from CIC; she was examining combat data _Minerva_ had transmitted. "Rey Za Burrel fought against a mobile suit type we're not familiar with… one that bears a striking resemblance to something that _is_ in our database."

Rau swiveled his chair to face her. Something about the name had rung a distant bell, though his somewhat fogged memory couldn't bring it to mind yet. But the other… "What, exactly, are you talking about, Leanne?"

She sighed. "Remember the files Chairwoman Canaver sent us just after we were established? You know, the full details of ZAFT's military R&D as of the end of the War? Well… there was an entry regarding the GENESIS Alpha unit we destroyed. We already knew, of course, that they had ZGMF-X11A Regenerate there; Ash Gray nearly wrecked the Shiva Option all by himself. What we _didn't_ know until after the War was that another of the thirteen nuclear-powered prototypes was kept there."

His eyes narrowed. "Which one? And why is this relevant, since Yzak and Dearka destroyed GENESIS Alpha on the spot?"

"It was X12A Testament," Leanne replied quietly. "And it's relevant because the new prototype Za Burrel faced was almost certainly derived from Testament's design."

Rau merely gazed at her for a moment… then swore softly under his breath. "So somehow it survived Alpha's destruction," he murmured, "and-"

The bridge hatch slid open, and a figure in gray floated in, tugging on a slate-gray trench coat and muttering to itself. Ken DiFalco got his coat fastened a moment later, then reached up, and yanked off his gas mask with vigor. "I _hate_ that mask," he snarled, more to himself than to anyone else. "If I didn't need the protection…"

"The battle's definitely over," Tom remarked, grinning despite the situation.

"Yep," Leanne agreed, with a matching grin. "The Boss is acting like a human again, instead of a battle computer."

"Don't expect it to last," Ken informed them, giving them a scowl that was only half-feigned. "We appear to have a serious situation on our hands, in case you didn't notice. We've just suffered quite the strategic defeat… one with implications I don't like the looks of."

"…There may be another issue," Rau murmured. "There's something…"

The ace snapped his gaze over to the ex-ZAFT commander. He'd taken the chance of reviving and recruiting the man because he needed all the strategic input he could get… but more important, really, was the clone's knowledge of the skeletons in ZAFT's closet.

"So what is it?" Ken asked, after waiting several moments.

"I'm not entirely sure," he admitted. "Still… Leanne, you said that new machine was fought by a pilot named Rey Za Burrel, correct?"

"Yeah," Leanne confirmed. "Why?"

"I'm not certain." Rau frowned in concentration. "The name sounds very familiar; I'm sure I know something important about him, but I can't quite remember…"

Ken nodded slowly, and simply floated next to Chance's chair, waiting for the recollection to come to the formerly masked man. It didn't surprise him that Rau couldn't remember; one thing that had been ascertained very shortly after Rau's revival was that the eighteen months spent in cryogenic stasis had damaged some of his memory engrams. Some of them were simply difficult for him to call to mind. Others had been destroyed completely.

This one, though…

"Of course," Rau said, almost to himself. "Falcon," he went on, meeting the ace's gaze, "don't trust that pilot."

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Any particular reason?"

"Because he's one of Gil's most trusted associates," Rau replied. "Possibly his closest confidante… and someone very much like me. Or your old student Victor Tempest."

The Major's blood ran cold. "You mean to tell me," he said slowly, "that I just flew a sortie with another clone of my father?"

"That's exactly right," his former enemy confirmed. "Another clone of Al Da Flaga… one who was very much like a younger brother to me. Gil raised him like his own son, and Rey was –like me- privy to all of Gil's plans." He tossed his head in frustration. "Unfortunately, I still can't remember what those plans _are,_ but I know that you shouldn't trust Rey any more than Gil."

Ken closed his eye. "That's just great… Do you realize how many problems we have now? Another clone of my father, an enemy pilot good enough to very nearly force _me_ to retreat –one with heightened spatial awareness, no less- and to top it all off, there's the pilot Za Burrel was fighting." He opened his eye again, and turned to Chance. "It seems that the son of Admiral James Hamilton is a pilot, and part of some kind of top secret project, as well."

The blonde captain groaned. "Just what we don't need. From what Admiral Halberton told me, if this one is anything like his father, he's going to be a tough opponent, and not just in the cockpit. I suppose he's out for revenge, too?"

The ace shook his head. "Not exactly," he said grimly. "There's no doubt that he'd _like_ to avenge his father's death… but he's too disciplined to let it control him. No, this Allen Hamilton is a little too much like me for my liking: utterly dedicated to his mission, with everything else secondary to that goal."

"You got all that from one brief exchange with him?" Chance immediately shook his head. "Of course you did. Silly me. Well, in that case… I'd better get in touch with the Admiral, once we're in friendly territory. Maybe _he'll_ have some advice."

"Not a bad idea," Ken agreed. "Tom, how's our mobile weapon compliment?"

Tom grimaced. "Your Exus is going to be out of commission for a little while; you took some nasty hits. On the plus side, though, your other unit is finally ready for action. The refit is complete, and the maser rifle calibrations are done."

The Major smiled thinly. "Excellent. Good thing we brought it along; if we track down Bogey One again, I'll make sure it doesn't enjoy the experience…"

* * *

_Minerva,_ Lounge

* * *

Kira floated next to a viewport, gazing out into the depths of space. Cagalli had already gone to the quarters that had been assigned to them, but he found himself needing to just _think_ for a little while… so though his gaze was directed outward, he was really looking back across the two years since the War ended… to the battles of that war.

_Miguel Aiman,_ he thought, his attention going to the first man he ever killed. _The Magic Bullet of Dusk… Ken's former comrade. I fought him to a standstill once, before he self-destructed his GINN and escaped…and then again, when I cut him in half. That was… the first time I ever killed someone._

After that had come the seemingly endless battles as _Archangel_ fought to cross from Heliopolis' wreckage to Earth Alliance territory. Along the way, he'd fought Athrun several times, helped destroy a reconnaissance GINN to prevent discovery… and watched as a shuttle full of refugees was blown to pieces by a pilot he'd humiliated, and then later befriended.

Then the nightmarish first battle in the desert, where Flay Allster's words had convinced him to fight with a terrible, brutal determination… the battle where he and his mentor had utterly obliterated an entire team of BuCUEs, in a conflict that tested the skills of both to their very limits.

And, of course, there was the Battle of Talbadiya, which had settled the desert conflict for good. Kira shuddered at the memory, recalling the terrible, explosive fury of the destruction of a LaGOWE, piloted by Andrew Waltfeld, with Aisha as his gunner. _I thought I'd killed them,_ he remembered. _They were the enemy back then… but they were also people I knew, people I respected. The only battles that were harder on me were against Athrun…_ Finding out that the two had survived, later joining the underground "True ZAFT" movement, had lifted a huge burden from Kira's shoulders.

That was how the War had progressed, going from one battle to another, sometimes seeming like there was no end to the conflict. Yet Kira had adjusted, and begun to come to terms with his new duties… until the day GAT-X207 Blitz was destroyed.

_Everyone thought Nicol was dead,_ Kira remembered. _Everyone but those who rescued him… and that mistake changed everything…_

Athrun Zala's rage at the apparent death of his friend had surpassed anything Kira had ever known. It had driven the pilot of GAT-X303 Aegis to seek vengeance, with rage-fueled skill and ferocity. Nonetheless, Kira had managed to retain the upper hand in that battle, aided by GAT-X105 Strike's flight capabilities; and it might've ended with both machines simply running out of power had not something else entered the equation.

Tolle Koenig's foolhardy attempt to bring Ken DiFalco's old CGUE into the battle changed the entire paradigm of the battle. The young pilot had been brave… but also almost completely unskilled with a mobile suit. He had been present in the battle for perhaps fifteen seconds before Athrun contemptuously –almost absent mindedly- slashed at the CGUE… and cut Tolle himself in half.

In the aftermath of that death, the battle became personal for _both_ pilots, and the result put Strike out of action for months, and utterly destroyed Aegis.

Eventually the two pilots had reconciled, becoming best friends once again and also partners on the battlefield, as Athrun saw the madness his own father had descended into. From then on, despite the tragedy of the Scorching of Orb, the War had proceeded with relatively little _personal_ tragedy for the new True ZAFT group… until the Second Battle of Jachin Due.

That was another battle Kira remembered with decidedly mixed emotions. It was, to be sure, perhaps the proudest time of his life… but it was also very likely the most terrible. First a misunderstanding had led him into mortal combat with his mentor, ending only when GENESIS nearly fried them both… and then the deaths began.

The final tally of dead was lengthy. True ZAFT's GuAIZ complement had been almost totally wiped out early in the battle, with Leanne Eldridge as the only survivor; only three of _Kusanagi_'s Astrays had come out of it intact, it was probable that Asagi Caldwell, Mayura Labatt, and Juri Wu Nien had only survived because they had more experience with the machine than anyone else.

_Asmodeus_ had also been savaged in the battle, with her entire bridge crew dead, and numerous casualties elsewhere; Tom Delaney had survived by no more than three meters, himself. _Archangel,_ _Eternal,_ and _Kusanagi_ had also been hurt in the long exchange, particularly by _Dominion._ Of them all, only _Odin_ had survived mostly unhurt.

Kira shivered then, remembering another sacrifice… one which had not, perhaps, injured him directly, as he'd not gotten to know the Gray Demon as well as he might've, but one which he nonetheless felt. One which had cost, in the end, over two thousand lives.

The sacrifice of the battleship _Arkbird,_ which Lance "Sparky" Cooper had rammed down Patrick Zala's throat in a suicide attack on the Jachin Due fortress itself.

He remembered _that_ incident all too well. It had taught him two very important lessons: that sometimes, the immediate sacrifice of many was better than the gradual sacrifice of many more –though Sparky's death had only killed Patrick Zala, leaving GENESIS operable, it had at least slowed things down- and, perhaps even more importantly, that even the greatest soldiers were still human…

"_Sparky? Lance! Answer me! Laaannnceee!"_

Remembering his mentor's anguish at his exec's death brought Kira's mind back to Tolle Koenig. The brown-haired youth had been Kira's best friend at Heliopolis, and the only person there –besides Ken- to know that Kira was a Coordinator. When Kira's genetic type had been revealed to the _Archangel_'s crew, it had been Ken who spoke in Kira's defense… but Tolle had been the one to physically stand between his friend and the rifles of _Archangel_'s security personnel.

The cheerful youth had continued to be a valued friend throughout the War, even being one of the first to volunteer to formally enlist in the Earth Forces, in order to continue serving with the _Archangel_'s crew (though he'd justified it on the basis that he couldn't stand the thought of the ship being forced into battle while shorthanded).

He'd also been the first of the volunteers to "leave" the ship.

Kuzzey Buskirk had determined himself ill-suited for war and departed _Archangel_ during the layover in Orb; he'd ended up spending the bulk of it at Ame-no-Mihashira, safely away from the conflict. Flay Allster, on the other hand, had stayed around, taking Kuzzey's place at Communications. In the end, she'd retired at the end of the War, and now resided in Orb; likewise, Sai Argyle had remained with them to the end, only to become a Morgenroete software engineer after the Treaty was signed.

And Miriallia Haw… Kira couldn't help but smile a little as the brunette came to mind. She'd been Tolle's girlfriend, and took his death worse than any of them, but in the end she'd proven stronger than anyone –except, perhaps, Tolle himself- had anticipated, remaining with _Archangel_ throughout the bloodiest battles of the War… and eventually starting a tentative relationship with the defected ZAFT pilot Dearka Elsman.

_Yeah,_ Kira thought, _she took Tolle's death pretty badly… but she recovered, and so did I. I have to remember that none of them, least of all Sparky or Tolle, would want me brooding about them…_

It did, however, lead him inexorably toward one last issue. Nearly three years earlier, he'd attempted to stay out of the War, along with his family, by remaining at Heliopolis… only to have the War come to _them._ Orb's neutrality had mattered little in the face of the Earth Alliance's top-secret G-weapon project… and Rau Le Creuset's pursuit of it.

_At least _he's_ gone,_ Kira thought, remembering the climactic final battle between Preybird and Providence. No one, not even Kira himself, had witnessed much of it, as it had gone almost immediately into GENESIS' core, but what little he _had_ seen had just gone to show that Le Creuset was someone who couldn't be allowed to survive.

Unfortunately, the fact that he was dead didn't mean there was no threat to Orb's neutrality this time around. Kira was uncomfortably aware of the fact that the Seiran family had ideas Cagalli strongly disapproved of. The younger, Yuna Roma Seiran, had an ill-concealed interest in Cagalli herself –and even worse concealed loathing of Kira for standing in his way- and his father Unato Ema Seiran was, regrettably, Prime Minister of Orb.

In other words, the head of government, directly below the royal family itself.

Among the many policies that Cagalli was wary of, the most prominent were Unato's lobbying against Orb's support of Section Nine… and his apparent interest in closer ties to the Earth Alliance. His stance on the former issue was that Section Nine was a group of marauding interlopers, unchecked by anything save an altogether too vague charter in the Junius Treaty itself, and therefore Orb should withdraw support before the organization did something truly intolerable, and got Orb dragged into the whole mess along with the enigmatic –and almost certainly nefarious- Major.

His justification for the latter was that he didn't want to see Orb scorched by nuclear fire once again. To Unato, it seemed almost as if war were inevitable… and this time, he wanted Orb to be on what was "clearly the stronger side", claiming that to attempt to remain neutral once again would do Orb more harm than good.

Considering the timing of Unato's shift in politics, Kira had a feeling that Section Nine would shortly be beginning a very quiet investigation into the prime minister's affairs. _Probably going beyond their legal authority,_ he thought with a small smile, _digging into Unato's records all the way back to his elementary school report cards, and dredging up any irregularities they can find._

In the light of the Major's bone-deep hatred of the Earth Alliance, Kira was sure his mentor would like nothing better than to bring down a prime minister with such leanings… particularly since he knew Unato both in his official and hidden occupations. As one of the primary architects involved in Orb's reconstruction, Ken had had the misfortune to come into contact with Unato on a fairly regular basis, especially during budget meetings.

Regardless of the eyepatch-wearing pilot's opinion, though, Kira had his own reasons to be concerned. He had no doubt at all that Unato was even now seeking a way to drive him away from Cagalli's side, making room for Yuna to make some kind of move… and that any "closer relationship" with the Earth Alliance would be bad for any Coordinators living in Orb.

Including himself and Cagalli.

His reverie was, at last, interrupted by the sound of the hatch opening, admitting three of _Minerva_'s four remaining pilots, accompanied by Meyrin. Shinn, flanked by Luna and Rey, turned a harsh gaze on Kira. "So you're the pilot of the Freedom, huh?" he said, eyes narrow. "Meyrin mentioned what you said during the battle… So it was you?"

Kira pushed away from the viewport, and straightened as he faced the hotheaded youth. "I was the pilot of ZGMF-X10A Freedom, yes," he admitted. "And I fought in the Battle of Orb, if that's what you're thinking about." He tilted his head, noting the way Shinn tensed whenever Orb was mentioned. The reaction appeared to be remembered fear… and anger. "So, what's your problem with Orb?"

"An Orb pilot wouldn't understand," Shinn replied tightly, reigning in his temper only with difficulty. "I don't need someone like you acting like you understand what I've been through. All I needed was confirmation that you were the one." He began to turn away… but Kira's quiet voice made him pause.

"I might understand better than you think," the brown-haired pilot asserted. "For one thing, I didn't become an _Orb_ pilot until after the War ended… and for another, I saw a lot of things in that time, before and after the Battle of Orb."

"It doesn't matter," Shinn said curtly, though not as firmly as before. "You didn't lose what I did."

"I never had it to begin with," Kira said bluntly, surprising the younger pilot. "The family I thought I had wasn't my real family; I never knew my real parents, and maybe that's for the best." He waved a hand. "But whether I lost my family or not isn't important. I know what it's like to lose a home, Shinn."

"You don't know _anything_ about me!" Shinn retorted hotly, his control beginning to fray. "I-"

"The first time," Kira continued calmly, as though the other hadn't spoken, "was when my family and I had to leave Copernicus, because of the escalating tension. I was parted from my best friend then, and the next time we met was when I lost another home… when we met as enemies, as Heliopolis collapsed around us."

Some of the fury in Shinn's expression faded, replaced with something akin to confusion. When he'd begun this conversation, he hadn't intended it to go this far… _And I didn't expect someone like him to actually try to be sympathetic,_ he thought. _He can't understand what I've been through… and yet…_

"I didn't just lose a home in the War," Freedom's pilot went on, remembering his own thoughts of only minutes earlier. "I also lost any trace of innocence, after all the battles _Archangel_ participated in. And… I learned what it is to fail, when civilians I'd protected all the way from Heliopolis were killed by a stray shot, on their way down to Earth."

That wasn't entirely correct, of course; the shot that killed the shuttle of Heliopolis refugees had been fired in deadly earnest. Kira knew, though, that Yzak Joule had assumed at the time that it was a group of fleeing soldiers. He'd been horrified when, after the War, he'd learned that it had in fact been a shuttle of refugees…

Shinn hesitated, hands twitching. _There's a difference,_ he thought, hanging onto at least a trace of his anger. _He lost a home, but he didn't lose what I lost…_ "You still don't understand," he said, finally turning to glare at Kira. "You didn't have to _watch_ what I watched!"

On the heels of that explosion, he stormed out of the compartment, leaving his fellow pilots behind.

Kira sighed. "That could've gone better," he said, almost to himself.

"Actually," Luna said hesitantly, as Rey also departed, "that wasn't bad at all. Shinn… doesn't like Orb much. And he _really_ doesn't like the Athha family, or anyone associated with them. After seeing him react to talk about Orb before, I'm amazed you managed to keep him that calm."

He shrugged, turning back to the viewport. "Well… let's just say I'm not completely unfamiliar with that kind of anger. I… made a pretty serious mistake during the War, and nearly got killed over it; my mentor showed me how to deal with that kind of thing in the process."

Meyrin nervously cleared her throat. "He calmed you down before someone could get killed?" she hazarded.

Kira smiled slightly. "No, actually, he tried his best to kill me," he admitted. "Thought I was in the way of what he needed to do. He was right… but he didn't exactly go about convincing me of that very well." He turned back to the sisters. "I calmed down Shinn by doing the exact opposite of what Ken did with me."

* * *

Section Nine Base, Commander Center, October 4th, C.E. 73

* * *

The smell of cigar smoke in Section Nine's nerve center would once have driven the entire staff off to find life support equipment; after the better part of two years, though, they'd gotten used to the smell… finally.

And grudgingly.

"You guys still don't appreciate the smell of a proper Cuban cigar, do you?" Morgan Chevalier chuckled, leaning against the back wall. "Ah, there's just nothing like it…"

"Fortunately," Nicol Amalfi retorted, seated at one of the observation stations. "But I suppose if the Major _didn't_ let you smoke that thing in here, you'd mutiny… or go ask Admiral Halberton for help. Or maybe Captain Ramius herself."

"Calling in the big guns might work," Chevalier admitted, grinning. "But the Major knows the Moonlight Mad Dog needs it to stay sane, and since you never know when we might have to go active…"

The younger pilot shook his head. "Right, I get it…"

"It's not the craziest decision he's ever made," a soft, French-accented voice pointed out. "Pretty mundane, compared to what he ordered six months ago."

Chevalier turned to the woman who'd spoken. "You've got a point there, Alley," he agreed. "Bringing back Rau Le Creuset… I know Sophia got his head back on straight, after she fixed his genes, but still… Even the Major's fiancé called him crazy over that one."

"And it takes a lot for Murrue Ramius to say that about him," Alicia Cateau said, with a nod and a small smile. "I think the last time she really questioned him was after the Zantetsuken fiasco, after Truman was killed."

Nicol, heretofore having remained silent on that particular subject, spoke up slowly, fingering the scar on the left side of his face. "Commander Le Creuset… is different now from how he used to be. Even during the earliest days on his team, I always thought there was something… a little odd about him. And as the War went on, he seemed to become colder, more… I don't know, more devious, maybe. It wasn't very visible –I mean, right to the end he was successfully manipulating Zala- but I could still see that something wasn't right. Now, though…"

"Now?" Chevalier prompted, when the younger pilot paused.

"Now… it's like he's more uncertain of himself," Nicol said quietly. "Actually, he kind of reminds me of the Major, back when he was trying to redeem himself for GENESIS, except without the emotionless look. I…think _he's_ looking for redemption now." He looked over at the Moonlight Mad Dog, eyes serious. "Call me crazy, Morgan, but I think Commander Le Creuset really _is_ on our side this time… and he's trying as hard to atone for what he did as the Major did for GENESIS."

Chevalier thought about that, then grunted. "Maybe so," he conceded, "but I'm still not that comfortable with it… and you can bet Her Highness and her boyfriend are both gonna blow their tops when they find out about it. Section Nine is supposed to have complete autonomy, but that's not gonna stop either of them from blasting the Major's eardrums out, and threatening him with everything from disembowelment to castration if anything goes wrong."

"They'd have to wait in line," Alicia opined. "Captain Ramius, I think, would want a word with him first… and she's about the only person who's temper actually makes even the Major nervous. Probably because the wedding is supposed to be early next year."

Morgan laughed. "You're probably right, Alley. In fact-"

"Uh, Commander Chevalier?" one of the sensor operators interrupted. "We've, uh… we've got a problem here, Sir."

Warning bells going off in his mind as the man's tone registered, Chevalier moved to his side in an instant. "What's going on, Lieutenant?"

The man swallowed. "Something I think we should alert the Major of ASAP, Sir. It's Junius Seven." He looked up at the pilot. "Commander, it's falling out of stable orbit… with a probable impact within the week."

Behind them, Alicia swore viciously. They all knew what that meant. Junius Seven had been reduced to rubble by the nuclear attack of the Bloody Valentine Tragedy, and fallen into the Debris Belt… but a very large single piece still remained. Ten kilometers in diameter, it was the entirety of one of the colony's base plates… and if it struck Earth while intact, the results would be catastrophic.

Probably terminal, as far as the human race was concerned.

Chevalier simply stood there for a few moments, mind racing, and then he straightened. "Forget warning the Major," he said harshly, "it sounds like we should be warning the entire Earth Sphere." He turned.

"Nicol, get hold of Athrun and Captain Ramius at Morgenroete, ASAP; let them know what's going on. Then get in touch with _Odin,_ get them the exact coordinates and predicted descent path of Junius Seven. Alert ZAFT while you're at it, too."

Nicol nodded. "On it, Morgan." He left the observation station and quickly moved to the primary communications console, taking over from the lieutenant manning it.

"Alley," Morgan went on, "check with the mechanics Morgenroete loaned us, and see if there's any chance of _Asmodeus_ getting to the scene in time. _Odin_ didn't take any nuclear warheads along for this mission, so if it comes down to it, the only thing they've got that might work on a colony is their Lohengrin; pretty small fireworks against something that big."

"Right away, Morgan." Alicia snapped off a quick salute, and vanished out the hatch.

As the other members of Section Nine sprang into a flurry of activity, Chevalier puffed on his cigar and sighed. "First Armory One, now this… What a mess this week is turning into. Wonder who's trying to destroy the world this time…?"

* * *

_Odin,_ Observation Deck

* * *

_I swim through a sea of stars, without looking back to shore… Faster than light, bending time, wherever… forever…_

Ken DiFalco floated in front of the huge viewport that took up an entire bulkhead, just as in the compartment's twin aboard the _Archangel._ On that ship, he'd come to this place to think… now he did the same, in the wake of the recent events.

The ace pilot had been born and bred in space; in his entire life, he'd spent no more than a year on Earth's surface prior to "retiring" from ZAFT. Even now, he felt more at home in his natural environment than he did in Orb… but today, the great blackness of space seemed cold comfort. As _Odin_ sailed alongside _Minerva._

The attack on Armory One had taken even Ken by surprise; his ostensible reason for being there in the first place had been to check for such threats, but he honestly had not expected one. His true reason for being there had been an information raid, after which he'd intended to depart quietly, without any fuss, and get the mobile suit data back to Section Nine Headquarters… and then return to Murrue, on Earth.

He'd known the new war was coming, of course. A cynic and student of history, Ken had known better than to believe conflict would just disappear, even after the world had seen the horrors of the Bloody Valentine, Alaska, Orb, and Second Jachin; his research into events such as the Second World War had long since disabused him of any belief a "War to End All Wars". Nonetheless, he'd not expected the new one to break out quite so soon… and he'd found that he wasn't as ready for it as he'd thought.

It wasn't even so much his near-defeat at the hands of the enemy mobile armor pilot. That had surprised the ace, but he'd long known it was inevitable that he'd someday encounter a pilot –besides Kira- capable of doing that much damage to him. No, Ken's problem lay not with the enemy… but with himself.

He remembered Second Jachin all too well. His own arrogance and overconfidence –and a burning need for vengeance- had driven him to convert the Gamma Emission by Nuclear Explosion Stimulus Induction System into a weapon… a weapon which he had intended for use against enemy fleets, but his friend and commander in chief, Patrick Zala, had envisioned as a weapon of genocide. That miscalculation had led the so-called Grimaldi Falcon to plan the lengthy campaign that eventually led to Second Jachin… and there his arrogance nearly cost him his life, as a clash of viewpoints resulted in a fast and furious duel with Kira.

It had also, in the end, resulted in the death of one of his closest friends, and the best second in command he could ever have hoped for.

Ken closed his eye, remembering Sparky Cooper's death. Not long after he and Kira had settled their differences, Sparky had rammed his ship, the _Arkbird,_ into Jachin itself, saying something about giving his all for the one who was giving _his_ all for the PLANTs. And in that instant, one of Ken's oldest friends, and the man he'd entrusted the Shiva Option itself to, while he himself was fighting aboard _Archangel,_ had perished.

In the end, that one event was a major part of the impetuous behind Ken's own near-suicidal attack on GENESIS. Angered and grief-stricken by Sparky's death, he'd been utterly determined to make sure that sacrifice was not in vain… and for the fourth time in that one battle alone, he'd nearly died.

The sheer number of near-death experiences in that one battle had shaken the ace. He hadn't realized it at the time, but in the months afterward, he'd woken up in the middle of the night, shaking, as he tried to throw off the nightmares of that terrible battle. Now… now he was no longer certain he had what it took. He was still an able tactician, having already planned and carried out several operations against the mysterious group known as Logos, but he was no longer as confident in his strategic skills… or his piloting.

_If I got killed out there, and left Murrue all alone again…_

Behind him, the hatch whispered open. "Indulging in self-pity again, Falcon?" a cultured voice questioned. "Or perhaps… self doubt?"

"A little of both, amigo," Ken admitted, not bothering to glance at the newcomer… or try to lie to him. It was only recently that the two of them had become friends, but they'd known each other for several years now, and knew each other too well to fool one another.

"In the absence of certain company," the ace went on, his unconcealed eye focusing on Polaris, "this place is the most comforting for me, especially at times like this."

Rau Le Creuset nodded, floating over to join his former rival. "You always were attached to the emptiness," he noted, "even more so than most natives of the PLANTs. I sometimes think, Falcon, that you really _are_ an embodiment of the wind; you're more at home in the absence of things than with your feet on the ground."

Ken finally turned his head. "I don't recall _you_ being overly fond of planets, either," he pointed out dryly.

"True," Rau conceded. "But you're something of an extreme case. I daresay that if it weren't for Murrue, you'd never set foot on Earth again at all. You don't like gravity, can't navigate in daylight, and can't even tolerate bright sunlight without special precautions." He smiled faintly. "I'm not even sure you're meant to _be_ on a planet, come to think of it."

"Maybe not," the Major admitted. "But we all make sacrifices, don't we?" He turned back to the stars. "I often wonder these days, though… should I be out here at all? I nearly wrecked everything at Jachin; my only real contributions to the battle itself were protecting the _Archangel_ from a positron cannon and blowing up GENESIS. I found my redemption in the process, but it bloody near got everyone killed."

Rau thought about that silently. He was familiar enough by now with Ken's occasional moodiness; he also knew that, despite what the ace himself had to say, it was _not_ a new phenomenon.

"Falcon," he said finally, "I'm beginning to think you're one of those people who simply isn't happy without something to worry about. Try to understand something: for all that your brilliance –or brilliant failures- play a major part in any battle you're involved with, the fact is that you don't operate in a vacuum. You can't control the enemy; I proved that to you when I came close to stopping you from destroying GENESIS. Neither can you guarantee none of your subordinates will make fatal errors… and those same subordinates can salvage even your most spectacular failure. Kira Yamato and Admiral Halberton remedied your blunder against Castor Truman… and you ought to remember that True ZAFT kept up their end at Jachin quite well while you were unconscious."

"Hmm… maybe so," Ken conceded. "Still, I can't help but wonder…"

Rau snorted. "If anyone should be having a crisis of conscience, Falcon, it should be me. I was the one who caused most of your problems in the War to begin with, if you'll remember; now _I'm_ the one seeking redemption."

The ace raised an eyebrow. "I suppose it won't do any good to point out to you that you were hardly in your right mind at the time?"

"I understand from Murrue that _you_ never accepted that it was Zala and myself responsible for GENESIS, not you," the other man pointed out. "Do you think I'd be any different… Brother?"

Ken sighed. "No, not really."

Rau turned to gaze at the starscape himself. "It's a rather more important issue for me than it was for you anyway," he murmured. "You only had to live with what you _accidentally_ set into motion. _I_ have to live with the knowledge that I deliberately attempted to destroy the world… and I doubt anyone will ever let me forget it." He glanced briefly at his former rival. "You do know, don't you, that you're the only person in the world who actually trusts me at the moment."

It was the ace's turn to snort. "Considering that no one outside Section Nine even knows you're alive, that doesn't exactly mean much, Rau. And I don't recall you having any problems dealing with Jason, come to it."

"Jason is… ambivalent at best," Rau said quietly. "He doesn't have the… history with me that most other members of the organization do, so it's not as hard for him to put that aside enough to have a civil conversation; that does not, however, mean that he actually trusts me. And I know full well that Murrue thinks you insane to have brought me back in the first place." He shook his head. "Sometimes, I almost agree with her, Falcon. The things that I did… I deserved to be left in that cryogenic limbo, at best. I've certainly done nothing to deserve being reawakened, and cured of my accelerated ageing…"

Ken rolled his eye. "If you're going to insist on thinking that way, Rau, then let me give you a suggestion: prove yourself on the battlefield. If you can fight against the sort of people like you once were, if you can fight for life, instead of death, then maybe you'll accept that you at least deserve a second chance… since your first was ruined by the botched cloning project."

Rau sighed. "Perhaps so, Falcon. Perhaps I can eventually accept that… but for now…"

The sound of the hatch opening again interrupted the conversation. "Sorry to bother you, Boss," Tom said hurriedly, "but we've got bad news from HQ."

Ken turned to look at the former Demon. "What sort of bad news?" he asked, a chill beginning to form in his spine.

"The worst," Tom said grimly. "Boss… Junius Seven has departed from stable orbit, and is now descending toward Earth. If it isn't stopped, it'll begin reentry in under a week."

* * *

ZAFT _Nazca_-class Destroyer _Voltaire,_ Bridge

* * *

"So that's it, huh?" the young, silver-haired man said quietly, glowering at the main screen; he wore the white uniform of a ZAFT commander. "This information is confirmed?"

"Looks that way, Yzak," the blonde redcoat said heavily. "We got word from one of our own observation posts at about the same time Section Nine contacted us. Unless they're both wrong, it looks like this is the real deal."

Yzak Joule swore under his breath. "First Armory One, now this?" he muttered. "What's next, a Martian invasion?" He tossed his head in annoyance. "All right, then. What are our orders, Dearka? As if I can't already guess."

Dearka Elsman hid a small smile at the sign of his friend and commander returning to his usual –irritable- self. Not that it was hard to hide, under the circumstances… "Apparently," he said, in response to Yzak's question, "we're to head for the Debris Belt ASAP. We're supposed to ascertain whether the orbital decay is natural or deliberate, if possible, and deploy meteor breakers regardless, to break up the colony wreckage."

Yzak grunted. "Like I said: as if I couldn't already guess. Fine, we go and try to make sure Orb and the rest don't go the way of the dinosaurs. Is it pointless for me to hope we get at least a _little_ backup? Or should I just get ready to make bricks without straw, like usual?"

His exec coughed, masking a chuckle. "Actually, _Minerva_ is supposed to get there not long after we do… and I gather the Chairman is going to see if _Odin_ is willing to make the trip with them."

"If I know him, he'll agree right away," a new voice said. "Because it's Section Nine's job, because it's where he was born… and because he never could resist playing the knight."

Dearka turned, smiling, as Miriallia Haw entered the bridge. "Hey, Mir," he greeted warmly (pointedly ignoring the mild look of disgust on Yzak's face).

Once in charge of coordinating the efforts of _Archangel_'s mobile suit complement, Mir had retired after the War, like the rest of the crew. Unlike most of them, though –who had either taken up full-time jobs in Orb, or accepted part-time assignments with Section Nine- she'd chosen to come to space, as a reporter. With her connections, she'd found it a simple matter to become an embedded reporter aboard Yzak's flagship… which, since her boyfriend was aboard, was an ideal place as far as she was concerned.

Even Yzak himself, for all that he still made the occasional sarcastic remark on the matter, didn't really object. His view of Naturals had been… adjusted, since first choosing to serve with the breakaway True ZAFT faction.

"Well," Yzak said now, "I'd have to say you're probably right about that, Miriallia. And much as I hate to admit to needing help, I can't say the idea of the Major being along bothers me." He gave her a shrewd glance. "I don't suppose you have any idea if he's brought _it_ with him, do you?"

Mir smiled, knowing exactly what Yzak was speaking of. "No," she admitted, "I don't; you know how secretive he is. I wouldn't be surprised, though. He may not have been expecting trouble when _Odin_ left port, but he doesn't like being without options." Her expression turned to one of remembrance. "Easier to do now than when we were keeping an eye on Flay, that's for sure…" Then she shook herself, gaze turning somber. "…Do you have any idea how serious the situation actually is?"

Dearka sighed. "If we don't do something… it's about as bad as anything short of GENESIS," he admitted. "Ten kilometers in diameter, thousands of tons of mass… if it strikes Earth, you can pretty much kiss the whole planet goodbye."

"Which is exactly why we're going out there," Yzak said sharply. "Don't start preaching disaster yet, Dearka. We haven't had our say yet…"

* * *

_Minerva,_ Talia Gladys' Quarters

* * *

Despite the time of night, Gilbert Durandal was already awake when the signal came in. The revelation of "the Major's" identity had given him cause for concern… for one thing he was certain of: the pilot once known as the Grimaldi Falcon would never cooperate with Durandal's plans.

Ken DiFalco was fiercely –some said fanatically- devoted to the protection of the PLANTs, and now to his new mission of keeping wars from escalating out of control, but he was also a very independent man, with no use for a society such as Durandal intended to bring about.

In fact, he'd said as much years earlier, in one of the many papers he'd published within ZAFT. _"If you want a demonstration of why the PLANTs are run by a Council of _elected_ officials, look no farther than the Soviet Union, circa 1922-1991 A.D. Supposedly a 'worker's paradise', all it really accomplished was to show communism to be an utter failure. To begin with, its paranoid leaders –particularly Stalin- ended up murdering millions of their own people; hardly the mark of a benevolent government. Moreover, they did indeed succeed in bringing about a 'utopian one-class society'. The only problem was, that one class was poverty, and the system itself was one of rigid control._

"_It is true, the PLANTs have some strictures that most Earth nations lack; most of these were brought about by the necessities of orbital habitation, however, not malicious oppression or the fear of the people. The PLANTs remain stable… but only as long as the status quo remains. The example is concluded simply by observing the state of world affairs at the end of the twentieth century A.D.: the Soviet Union was gone, bankrupted in its attempt to out-build the West, with its successor state little better off. By contrast, the United States was thriving._

"_The operative point, which all ZAFT solider should be aware of –lest someone lose their way, and begin to think of how the PLANTs could be run 'better'- is that communism simply cannot last. History shows a stratified society is doomed to failure: even if you get the majority of people to accept it, human nature is such that there will inevitably be rogues, who will rebel against the system… and such a rebellion need not survive for it to show the simple truth that humanity will never permit such control._

"_In conclusion, Utopia is a myth; that's why the word literally means 'No Place'. In this imperfect world, we can do naught but defend what we have…"_

Exactly what had prompted that particular article was a subject of some debate among DiFalco's critics and supporters alike. Unfortunately –from a historical point of view- he'd been a relative unknown at the time, with little attention paid to him personally; exactly what had been on his mind then, only his closest friends could say.

Nonetheless, the monologue had shown Durandal one thing: Ken DiFalco was, himself, one of the rogues he spoke of. That would make him an obstacle to the nascent Destiny Plan… one which would, eventually, have to be dealt with in some manner or other. _I don't want to kill him if it can be helped,_ he mused, _but Section Nine is too influential a player in the current state of affairs. If he learned of what is going on now… Hm. His reaction could be most difficult to predict…_

He was still pondering the subject when the compartment's intercom terminal beeped, awakening Talia herself. "…What's going on?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I'm not sure," Durandal admitted honestly, and accepted the call. "Yes? What is it?"

Meyrin Hawke's face appeared on the screen… and her expression was grim. _"I'm sorry to disturb you this time of night, Your Excellency,"_ she answered, _"but we just received two transmissions; I was about to inform you of the first when confirmation arrived from the Homeland."_

"Confirmation of what?" he asked gently; judging from her expression, she was only barely hanging onto her own calm.

"_According to Captain Chance, Your Excellency, with confirmation from the Homeland…" _Meyrin swallowed. _"Sir, Junius Seven has entered a decaying orbit, and is estimated to impact Earth's surface within the week."_

Behind him, Talia gasped audibly, but Durandal didn't permit himself such a reaction. "I see," he said, far more calmly than he felt. "In that case… Please connect me with _Odin,_ Meyrin. I need to speak with the Major at once."

"_Right away, Your Excellency."_

After Meyrin's image had vanished, he turned back to the captain. "Well," he said quietly, "it looks like our troubles aren't over yet."

"Yes," Talia agreed, worried. "Is that a natural occurrence, or…?"

"I don't know," Durandal admitted. "That's one reason I intend to ask Section Nine's assistance. I don't know how much they can materially contribute, but they very likely have access to intelligence that we do not."

* * *

A few minutes later, it was Ken's face –covered only by his usual eyepatch, since Talia and Durandal both already knew his identity- that was on the terminal's screen. Unsurprisingly, he appeared to be quite wide awake, despite the time; Durandal recalled once hearing that the ace rarely slept, using martial arts meditation instead, presumably to avoid nightmares.

"_I fully understand the situation, Chairman,"_ Ken said now, expression grave. _"More fully, perhaps, than you do. _Odin_ will accompany you toward the Debris Belt… but I'm afraid the ship herself cannot stray beyond the very edge of the Belt."_

Durandal raised an eyebrow. "May I ask why, Major?"

"_Because I can't afford to have Section Nine assets spotted near such a scene,"_ Ken said bluntly. _"Whether this is natural or the work of agents unknown, the fact is that Section Nine has too many enemies, many of whom would be delighted by the opportunity to try and pin this on us."_

The Chairman nodded with grim acceptance. "I understand, Major. Well, our forces should be sufficient to deal with the situation without any outside assistance."

"_I didn't say I couldn't assist at all,"_ the ace told him, eye flashing. _"I just said that I can't afford to bring in known Section Nine assets. That does _not_ preclude my personal intervention, Mr. Chairman. Outside of my organization and certain contacts from the old True ZAFT and Clyne Faction, the only people who know that 'the Major' is also Kenneth DiFalco are on your ship."_

Durandal gazed at him in bemusement for a moment… and then his eyes narrowed as something clicked in the back of his mind. "I see…" he murmured. "Then, you still have…?"

"_I have my ways of acting as the Grimaldi Falcon, instead of the Major,"_ Ken acknowledged. _"Beyond that, I'd rather not say over an open channel. But I can and will say this, Mr. Chairman: I fought too long and hard, and sacrificed too much, in the fight against GENESIS to let Earth be destroyed now. Especially not by my own birthplace…"  
_

* * *

_Minerva,_ Corridor/Conference Room

* * *

"I wonder what's going on now," Kira remarked to Cagalli in a low voice, as they made their way down the corridor. Durandal had requested their presence shortly after they'd awoken, which struck him as somewhat… ominous.

"I don't know," Cagalli admitted. "But he did look a little… I don't know, grim? Something must've happened… and whatever it is, we're probably not going to like it."

Kira sighed. "After Armory One, I guess that's to be expected. This really isn't our week, is it?"

"No," she agreed quietly. "And it doesn't look like it's going to get better just yet, either…"

Stepping into the conference room, they found both Talia and Durandal waiting for them, looking grim indeed. ""I'm sorry to have to trouble you," Talia began, as the two Orb visitors sat, "but the situation is grave."

Cagalli nodded, feeling a chill run down her spine. "I understand, Captain. But… what exactly _is_ the situation?"

"Both we and Section Nine," Durandal said heavily, "have received word of an unexpected situation in the Debris Belt. It seems that… the remains of Junius Seven have strayed from their stable orbit, and are now beginning to fall toward Earth."

She inhaled sharply. "But… but the orbit was supposed to remain stable for at least another century!" she protested. "Why is it already decaying?"

"We don't know," Talia admitted. "It may, unfortunately, be deliberate, though at this point we don't have enough evidence to determine which theory is correct. What we _do_ know is that unless we intervene, Junius Seven will strike Earth's surface in under a week." She sighed. "I'm sorry to have brought you into another dangerous situation, My Lady, but I'm afraid we simply can't spare the time to drop you off before engaging this threat. Every moment we delay…"

"We understand, Captain," Kira assured her. "But… what exactly would the damage be if the wreckage actually struck?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Durandal answered. "Effectively total, Commander; the planet would survive, but if it does strike intact, I doubt humanity will. The PLANTs would survive the impact itself… but even now we're not truly self-sufficient. Without Earth, only the Martian colonies would be spared, and even they would be terribly vulnerable, should a new disaster strike."

Cagalli swallowed. "Chairman, if there's anything at all Orb can do to help-"

"My Lady," he interrupted, "if we want Orb's help, we'll ask for it. All due respect, but this is our concern, not-"

"Don't give me that!" she interrupted in turn, eyes narrowing in nascent anger. "This disaster may be starting in space, but it affects the entire world, Chairman. This is as much our concern as yours, and I'd ask you to remember that before being patronizing."

Durandal blinked, taken aback by her vehemence, but then nodded slowly. "You're right, of course. My apologies, My Lady." He paused, regaining his equilibrium. "Nonetheless, I'm afraid I don't expect Orb to be able to contribute much, if anything, to dealing with the current situation. You have no major assets in space at the moment, and I doubt you could launch any significant numbers in the time we have."

"I…" Cagalli frowned, thinking hard. _Blast Unato anyway,_ she thought bitterly. _His insistence on "not provoking" the Earth Alliance is leaving us just sitting there, doing nothing… Blast him! _ "…Very well," she said at last, against her will. "Still, I ask you to let me know if there's anything we _can_ do to help."

He nodded. "Of course, My Lady. As it is, we've requested assistance from Section Nine… though the Major informs me the organization will be unable to participate overtly, due to political concerns."

She made a face of disgust. "Political concerns," she muttered. "They always get in the way…"

Durandal smiled faintly. "I don't disagree with you on _that,_ Lady Cagalli. The political game is necessary, but seldom pleasant." He stood. "And that, I suppose, is that. Thank you for your time, and your offer, Lady Cagalli. My only regret is that we can't take the time to remove you from harm's way."

Kira shook his head, smiling a little. "It's okay, Mr. Chairman," he assured the older man. "We've been in harm's way a few times in the past… and I think we'd both rather be here to see things through, anyway."

_And besides,_ he added silently, carefully not looking at Cagalli, _I don't think I could forgive myself if I wasn't here for this. If there's any way I can do it… I'm going out there, too.  
_

* * *

_Minerva,_ Lounge, October 5th, C.E. 73

* * *

"I never thought something like this would happen," Meyrin Hawke murmured, looking out a viewport. "Junius Seven falling out of orbit… What's going to happen?"

"That depends on whether or not we reach it in time," Millenia Crescent told her, sipping what appeared to be flavored lubricant, but the rest thought she was drinking black coffee. "We've got the technology to do something about it; the question is about timing… and exactly how to _use_ that technology."

"Our only real option, I suppose," Rey Za Burrel said quietly, "is to shatter it into pieces, so that most of its mass burns up during reentry. If it hits intact, it would effectively destroy all life on the surface."

"I don't know," Yolant Kent said, in an offhand manner, "maybe that wouldn't be so bad. A little payback for the PLANTs, something to give people comfort in the wake of Earth's aggression, during the War…"

Millenia looked at him sharply, and opened her mouth to rebuke him… and at that moment, a different voice spoke. "How _dare_ you?" Cagalli demanded, stepping in with Kira in tow. She'd been passing by, and had overheard the comment; predictably, it had angered her. "How can you say such a thing?"

Shinn Asuka, heretofore silent, rounded on her. "Can't you tell he isn't even being serious?" he snapped at her. "Try getting your facts straight before you react… or is that more than an _Athha_ can manage, huh?"

Her gaze snapped to him, and her eyes narrowed in increased anger… but this time, Millenia managed to speak first. "That's enough, Shinn," she said sternly. "You too, Yolant; it didn't sound much like you were joking, and even if you were, that's not something to joke about." The "Black Widow" gave them each a hard stare. "Unlike either of you, I was _at_ the Bloody Valentine, and believe me, it would be an even greater injustice if that colony were used to exact vengeance. The dead from that day have endured enough… as have the survivors."

Yolant looked away, suitably rebuked… but Shinn wasn't going to give up quite so easily. "It's just like an Athha," he said, voice low and dangerous. "You act without thinking about the consequences… just like two years ago."

Cagalli went white, remembered anguish mixing with white-hot fury at her father being spoken of in such a manner, however obliquely. "You…!"

Kira stepped in front of her, as though to shield her. "Don't go too far," he warned. "I can understand if you're bitter; none of us liked what happened back then, either. But don't take it out on her, understand?"

Shinn's fists clenched. "Don't even _pretend_ that you understand!" he snapped, control fraying. "You have no _idea_ what happened to me!" He shot a glare at Cagalli. "My family _died_ in that war, because of the Athha family's arrogance!"

Cagalli recoiled, caught off guard by the sheer hate in Shinn's eyes and voice. "You don't understand," she whispered. "It wasn't like that…"

It was Kira's turn to glare. "Maybe I don't know what it's like to lose my entire family," he said quietly, "but there's a lot about what happened back then that _you_ don't understand."

"What is there to understand?" Shinn fired back. "All I need to understand is that the Athhas apparently didn't even bother to think about how many people would die for their ideals!"

"It's better to lose the war and be destroyed by it than to win it by becoming the very thing you fight against," Kira quoted, meeting the hotheaded pilot's angry eyes. "Your own hero said that. I know that doesn't make what happened to you any easier, but you should understand that blaming Orb –or Cagalli- for it isn't going to help you or anyone else."

The oblique reference to Ken clearly had an effect on Shinn… but while it slowed his assault, it did nothing to quench his anger. "Don't pretend to understand things you haven't experienced," he hissed, managing to impart more anger into the low tone than in his near shouting previously. "You don't know anything about what I've been through."

Turning sharply, he stormed angrily out of the compartment.

Cagalli was still pale in the wake of his departure, torn between remembered anguish and rage, prompting Kira to quickly move back to her side. "It's okay, Cagalli," he said softly. "Don't worry about what he was just saying. He doesn't understand what _really_ happened back then; there's nothing in what he just said that you should worry over."

She let out a shuddering sigh. "Yeah… you're right. It's just that… hearing my father spoken of like that…"

"I know," he assured her. "But all that was bitter ranting. I understand why he did it, but he was out of line, and you should know it, too."

Cagalli nodded slowly, gradually calming down. "Yeah… thanks, Kira."

"Well," Millenia said, finally speaking again, "that just goes to show why I was against him being brought into the Second Stage project to begin with. That temper… it could easily get him killed someday. Possibly by Falcon, if his stupidity is particularly spectacular."

Kira turned his gaze toward the enigmatic woman. "Why didn't _you_ say something just now?" he asked curiously. "He's _your_ subordinate, right?"

She shook her head. "In theory, and I'll grant that, in battle, he _does_ tend to obey orders… but he's also well known for his attitude. He made a habit of talking back to his own instructors at the Academy –small miracle that he even graduated- and I've seen the occasional evidence of his temper myself. Believe me, there's not a thing I could've said that might've slowed him down, much less stopped him; Orb is an extremely touchy subject with him."

The pilot glanced speculatively at the hatch through which Shinn had disappeared. "Actually, I think you nearly did get through to him, with that reference to Falcon. Maybe his hero worship will mellow him, as time goes by… Hm. I think perhaps I'll ask Falcon to keep an eye on him, while we're traveling together…"

* * *

Earth, Atlantic Federation, Washington, Blue Cosmos Headquarters, Conference Room

* * *

"This is… an unsettling development," one of them men grouped around the shadowed table said quietly. "Is this information confirmed, Lord Djibril?"

"It is," the man called Djibril, current leader of Blue Cosmos, acknowledged. "I've dispatched Phantom Pain to investigate the details, but the situation itself is a fact. Junius Seven's remains are now falling to Earth." He smiled thinly. "A delightful irony, I suppose; the colony we obliterated trying to cause its own revenge…"

"But are we certain this is a natural event?" Jeffrey Sutherland –cousin of the late William Sutherland- asked worriedly. "And have you considered the consequences of it? This is a very serious situation, Lord Djibril…"

"We're not certain yet what caused it," Djibril admitted. "It may well be deliberate… but if it is, that's actually to our advantage. As a matter of fact, Jeffrey, I _have_ considered the consequences… and I believe them to be in our favor."

"How so?" the first man, Maximilian Webster, demanded. "If that colony strikes Earth, you should know as well as any of us the level of catastrophe involved!"

"Relax, Max," Djibril soothed. "Think about it: right now, everyone is wondering why Junius Seven started to move in the first place… but after the strike, they'll be more interested in knowing _who._ They'll demand answers, and all we have to do is tell them the Coordinators did it." He smiled unpleasantly. "The people will find it easy enough to believe; after all, the majority of Coordinators live in space. They built the PLANTs, GENESIS, and the asteroid fortresses. They even built the very colony whose remains are bearing down on us. Yes, they'll find it all too easy to accept that the Coordinators decided to try one more time to wipe us all out…"

"That still doesn't address the point of the damage itself!" Bruno Azrael said sharply. "If it hits the planet, everyone on it –including us- will die!"

"I don't believe it will come to that, Mister Azrael," a new voice said smoothly. "All we have to do is make certain… arrangements in space."

Heads turned at once to see a man in Earth Forces uniform slipping into the room. "And just who are you?" Sutherland demanded.

"Pardon me," Djibril interjected, nodding at the new arrival. "I should've mentioned this earlier. This is Admiral Robert Sykes, Earth Alliance Forces. He's one of our agents, now." Gesturing for Sykes to sit, he continued, "As you know, our penetration at the highest levels of the Earth Forces themselves was virtually eliminated in the latter stages of the War, when Rear Admiral Kreitzman died at Mendel, Vice Admiral Truman in an ambush against the _Archangel,_ and Admirals Hamilton and Sutherland at Jachin. Since then, I've carefully been recruiting new members, to once again cement our control over Earth Forces operations. Admiral Sykes here was our first recruit; we knew of him from Admiral Truman's recommendations."

"I'm not sure that's much a recommendation," Webster said dubiously. "Truman and his entire task force were wiped out…"

"By an ambush by the traitorous Admiral Halberton," Sykes pointed out, unperturbed. "Castor was the victim of _Odin_'s treachery, not incompetence; if you'll review the reports from the time, you'll find that he likely would've finished off at least the _Archangel_ herself, had Halberton not intervened."

"Point taken," Azrael conceded, before Webster could respond. "You were saying, Admiral?"

"I was saying that I don't think it will come to a complete catastrophe," the admiral responded calmly. "The fact is, ZAFT has already dispatched ships to intercept the colony, and break up its wreckage before it can become a threat." He smirked. "We all know that, abominations though they might be. Most of them actually have no intention of destroying Earth; they're not that stupid."

"And how, exactly, does that work to our advantage?" Sutherland asked sharply. "If it's destroyed completely, then at best nothing has changed, and at worst the PLANTs come off looking like heroes!"

"Hardly," Sykes said dryly. "Mister Sutherland, I didn't say they'd destroy it completely. Left to their own devices, I'm sure they would… but Lord Djibril and I, along with Rear Admiral Novak and Captain Roanoke, have hit on a different plan."

"Indeed," Djibril concurred, shifting focus back to himself momentarily. "What our military assets have proposed is to harass ZAFT while they're in the process of breaking up Junius Seven. Not enough to make them fail, but enough to ensure that at least a few sizable chunks make it through reentry intact. It won't be pretty," he admitted, "for there _will_ be thousands, perhaps millions, of Natural casualties, but it will give us the opportunity we need to declare war on the PLANTs again, without being destroyed in the process."

"Exactly," Sykes said, nodding. "We then use suitably doctored footage of the engagement to show ZAFT was responsible for the entire event, and have President Copeland ask for a new declaration of war to punish the PLANTs for their attempted act of genocide."

In the wake of that statement, there was much muttering among the other members of the council, including those who had heretofore remained silent. The idea seemed to have some merit in the eyes of some of them, while others were concerned by the massive casualties involved.

At last, Webster turned back to the pair. "Are you sure this can be done?" he questioned. "Especially with the possibility of Section Nine's 'Major' intervening personally? Phantom Pain is the only asset we can risk for this operation…"

Sykes smiled coldly. "Section Nine won't be crazy enough to get involved directly," he said confidently. "They may find a machine or two that they can use while still maintaining official distance from the whole affair, but it won't be enough. And besides… you all know Neo Roanoke's origins as well as I do. Even if he were going up against the Butcher Bird himself, Captain Roanoke would have at least an even chance –probably better- of success. Against ZAFT…"

At that, even the skeptical Sutherland slowly nodded. "Very well, then," he said quietly. "Lord Djibril, Admiral Sykes, your plan is approved." He glanced at his watch. "We'd all best evacuate Earth for the moment, and return after the crisis has passed. We'll meet again then."

"Thank you, Jeffrey," Djibril acknowledged… and smiled very, very coldly.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge, October 7th, C.E. 73

* * *

"Still no action from the Earth Forces," Durandal mused, watching the main display as _Minerva_ approached the Debris Belt. "Odd. Even they should've noticed the change in Junius Seven's orbital path, even if they didn't believe our initial warnings…"

"Perhaps they're seeing if we can do anything about it first," Talia suggested. "Let us do the dirty work, so that they don't have to put their own forces in harm's way. Or maybe they want to save their own units for battle against us?"

He sighed. "A possibility," he admitted. "Tensions have been rising for months now, after all; and for all that it was probably the right thing to do, Section Nine's attack on a secret military base and theft of the Strike Noir probably didn't help. Even if that truly wasn't an Atlantic Federation project, the Major's high-handed actions have made him a number of enemies. And as it's common knowledge that he was originally if a ZAFT ace, if not which one…" The Chairman shook his head. "Nonetheless, it _is_ strange that they would take such risks. Considering the threat this poses, this goes well beyond calculated risk."

"_I agree,"_ Ken said, speaking from a side monitor; he was once again wearing the gas mask. _"My professional opinion, Mr. Chairman, is that they are plotting something. Unfortunately, I have no idea what, but the existence of Bogey One –a ship equipped with Mirage Colloid- and the theft of the Second Stage units, indicates a plan of some complexity… and confirms a certain element of treachery on their part, even leaving aside the violation of the Junius Treaty represented by the use of Mirage Colloid."_

"There's no confirmation that Bogey One was actually an Earth Forces ship," Durandal pointed out. "There _are_ other factions in space, such as various pirate groups, mercenaries, and even, according to rumors, agents of the Martian colonies."

"_Doesn't hold water,"_ the Major said bluntly. _"No pirate group would be able to accomplish that theft, and while a mercenary group might've pulled it off, mercenaries always have employers, which would lead us straight back to the Earth Forces. As for Mars, I've been monitoring their situation myself, and while it's true there's something suspicious going on there, this isn't their style. And finally, none of those groups have access to biological CPU technology… and one pilot from Bogey One openly identified himself as Allen Hamilton, son of the late Admiral James Hamilton. If that's a coincidence, then I'm an eagle."_

"You may have a point," the Chairman conceded. "As you're the expert in these matters, Major, I'll leave that particular judgment to you. In any case, that's not really relevant to our current situation; what matters is that the Earth Forces are doing nothing, which leaves the matter up to us." He glanced at Talia. "Captain, I believe it's time to properly inform the crew of the situation."

She nodded. "Agreed, Your Excellency. As you are the Chairman, perhaps you should…?"

"Of course. It's my responsibility, after all." Durandal pressed a button on the arm of his chair, activating a ship-wide intercom circuit. "Attention, all crew," he said clearly. "You already know that Junius Seven is currently falling out of orbit, and will reenter Earth's atmosphere within hours. Doubtless you also understand the consequences of that… which is why we're currently heading there ourselves. I regret to inform you that the Earth Alliance is doing nothing about the situation, despite the grave danger to their own world; therefore, it's up to ZAFT to stop the catastrophe before it starts. Today, you'll be fighting to save your motherworld. Perhaps Earth and the PLANTs have not always been the best of friends," he acknowledged, briefly meeting Ken's gaze on the monitor, "but today, whatever our grievances, neither the PLANTs nor Earth can survive without one another. It's also the place from which humanity came, which makes it everyone's responsibility." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I realize we're asking a great deal of you all… but this is the most important mission ZAFT has undertaken since the Second Battle of Jachin Due. This is a mission that cannot fail… for our sakes, and for the sake of the next generation, and all generations to come."

* * *

_Minerva,_ Cagalli's Quarters

* * *

"I can just picture Ken's face right now," Kira commented, handing Cagalli a drink container; they'd both heard Durandal's PA announcement. "Probably a little disgusted by the 'blatantly idealistic' speech… and maybe with its length, too."

Cagalli snorted. "He's one to talk; you know as well as I do how fond _he_ is of long-winded speeches… even if he's never even noticed that he is." She sighed. "Like the ones he made at Orb, about sacrifice…"

He sighed, and moved to sit next to her on the cabin's bunk. "You're still thinking about what Shinn said, aren't you?" he said quietly.

She closed her eyes. "Well… yeah," she admitted. "I mean, I can't think of anything else we might've done at the time, knowing what we did then, but still… what he said about my father, and about my family's arrogance…"

Kira wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Cagalli," he said gently, "you're worrying about nothing. Like you said, knowing what we did then, there wasn't anything else we could've done. For that matter, there might not have been anything other course even if we _had_ known about the nukes from the start. Orb was just too badly outnumbered to hold out for long, even if Azrael hadn't brought along nuclear weapons." He shook his head. "And as for Shinn, he's clearly still locked in the past. Everything he does, everything he _thinks,_ is tied to his family's death, so that he can't view it objectively. I can understand that, but the fact is that he isn't thinking straight about what happened… and neither are you, if you're still that bothered by it."

It was Cagalli's turn to sigh. "I guess you're right. My father suffered for his decisions as much as any of our people did; it was his choice to… share their fate."

Kira nodded. "That's right. You lost family in that war, and so did just about everyone else. Even I lost friends… and the comfortable certainty of my own past. Shinn's no different from any of us, except in how it binds him to the past; all we can do is make our own choices… and allow no one to question the paths we choose." He stood then, and moved toward the cabin's hatch.

Cagalli looked up at him, sensing his intention. "That sounds like what Ken always said, in the War," she said softly. "…So, you're going out there, too?"

"I… I have to," he said quietly, not turning to face her. "I made my choice long ago, Cagalli: to protect you, and everything you and I –and Tolle and Sparky- fought for." He looked up then, glancing at her over his shoulder. "I may not have the Freedom right now… but I have the power to make a difference, and the will to see it through to the end."

Cagalli nodded slowly. _I don't want him to go,_ she thought sadly, _but… he's right. And I knew a long time ago that Kira can't just sit by when something like this happens. And… maybe I can't, either,_ she admitted to herself, thinking darkly of her own prime minister. _Something… is going to have to change. Whatever happens today, I don't think this tension is going to just go away. Too much blood… too much hatred._

"All right," she told him, smiling a little. "But don't you dare die on me, Kira. And… when you get back, I think we need to talk about things."

Kira turned to face her, brow furrowed. "Things?" he repeated.

"This situation," Cagalli clarified. "Not just Junius Seven, but… everything. And not just the two of us; when we get home, we need to talk to Ken and Athrun, too."

He continued to just watch her for a moment, puzzled… and then a light went on in his own mind. "Right," he murmured. "Right… I guess we do need to think things through, don't we?" He smiled. "Don't worry, Cagalli. I'll be just fine." He reached into his collar, and raised the Haumea pendent she'd given him years earlier, only days before his final, near-fatal duel with Athrun… the pendent which he sometimes thought had saved his life that day. "I'm coming back… I promise."

* * *

_Voltaire,_ Hangar

* * *

"Bit of a change from the old days, huh, Yzak?" Dearka commented, powering up his Gunner-equipped ZAKU Warrior. "The last time we flew a mission like this, we weren't limited to mass-production mobile suits…"

"You know as well as I do why we gave up Duel and Buster," Yzak replied, finishing the preflight on his Slash-equipped ZAKU Phantom. "Maybe we'll get them back sometime, maybe we won't; right now, we need to concentrate on the mission."

"Right, right…" his friend and exec acknowledged sourly. "I still miss Buster, but…"

GAT-X102 Duel and GAT-X103 Buster had been put into storage within days of the signing of the Junius Treaty; the original designers might've been puzzled by that, as the only aspect of the original five G-weapon designs that would've violated the Treaty was the Mirage Colloid equipped by the long since destroyed GAT-X207 Blitz… but anyone who'd been with True ZAFT knew better. Shortly after _Archangel_ has arrived in Orb following the Battle of Alaska, Duel and Buster had both been retrofitted with N-jammer cancelers and nuclear fission reactors… technology now prohibited from military use by the Junius Treaty.

They both knew, though, that should war be declared again, there was an excellent chance their old machines would be instantly reassigned to them once again.

"Remember," Yzak said now, "the mission is to deploy the meteor breakers to break up the colony; and to do that, they have to be placed quickly and efficiently, in exactly the right locations to ensure proper dispersal of debris."

"I know," Dearka assured him. "Hopefully, that's all we'll have to deal with today…"

Yzak merely grunted, but he shared his friend's concern. _Junius Seven's fall is suspicious,_ he thought darkly. _Maybe it really _is_ a natural event… but if it isn't, there's a good chance that whoever started it won't like people trying to _stop_ it._

"Be on your guard," he said aloud. "We can't afford anything going wrong. There's a lot more at stake than just our own lives."

"Roger that," Dearka acknowledged. "Bridge, this is Dearka Elsman. Ready to launch."

"_Roger that,"__Voltaire_'s operator replied. _"You're cleared to launch, Sir. Oh, and Miriallia says you better not get killed out there, Sir, or she'll kill you herself."_

By now, everyone aboard _Voltaire,_ and many of those on _Rousseau,_ was accustomed to Mir Haw.

"I got it," Dearka said, chuckling. "Right, then. Dearka Elsman, Gunner ZAKU launching!"

"Yzak Joule, Slash Phantom launching!" Yzak added a moment later, and the two pilots launched out toward Junius Seven's remains… and the ghosts that still lingered there.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Corridor

* * *

It was with a head held high that Kira made his way toward _Minerva_'s bridge. He'd made his decision and, as his mentor had taught him long ago, he would follow his chosen path to the end, no matter what got in the way.

And if the event he sought to help stop had been caused by human hands, he would not hesitate to do what was necessary…

_I learned a lot that day,_ Kira thought grimly. _About myself… and about the world. Sometimes, the right thing to do isn't the right thing to do. Sometimes… you have to take the fight all the way to the end. Against some opponents, drastic measures are necessary…_

"Um… Commander Yamato?"

Startled out of his reverie, Kira turned to see Lunamaria Hawke near the hatch to the bridge, apparently waiting for him. "Uh, Miss Hawke, right? What can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering how the Chief Representative is doing," Luna answered tentatively. "Is she alright?"

He sighed. "Mostly. The things your friend said to her… they kind of struck a nerve." He met the younger pilot's gaze. "I can understand Asuka's feelings, but Cagalli lost friends and family in the War, too. We all did…"

She looked away. "Yeah… I guess you're right. But, um…" The violet-haired pilot hesitated a moment, then blurted, "is Ken DiFalco really all that Shinn thinks of him? Or he is just a traitor, like Vino and Yolant say?"

Kira had to think about that one for a moment. It wasn't a question he bothered to think about much anymore, but he could see why it would be such a pressing one for a ZAFT pilot; Ken had, after all, been one of ZAFT's most famous pilots himself, once upon a time… and in some quarters, he was still regarded as their most infamous traitor, as well.

"I don't believe him to be a traitor," he said at last. "It's true that he betrayed ZAFT, but Patrick Zala betrayed him first; it was either leave ZAFT, or betray his own ideals. And whatever else happened, he always remained true to himself, and to his oath to protect the PLANTs. Maybe that makes him a traitor as far as ZAFT is concerned… but I don't think so. He's just a man, doing what he believes is right to the best of his ability." He shrugged. "That's about all I can tell you, really. My advice is to watch how he fights, and make your own judgment then."

"I see…" Frowning in thought, Luna pushed off, and left Kira to pursue his own goal.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

There wasn't much Talia had to do, now that they'd arrived at the scene of the crisis, until after _Minerva_'s pilots launched, so she was merely resting in her chair, mentally preparing herself for anything that might occur… until the bridge hatch unexpectedly opened.

"Captain? Do you have a minute?"

She turned, and raised her eyebrows at the sight of Kira entering. _What's he doing here right now?_ she wondered. "Of course, Commander Yamato. What can I do for you?"

He took a deep breath. "Actually… I was wondering if you could lend me a mobile suit. I know about the situation," he added, before she could reply, "and I know it might be dangerous… but I still want to help out."

"You _do_ realize that this isn't exactly an Orb operation," Talia pointed out carefully. "Are you certain you can risk being involved at all? I somehow don't think Prime Minister Seiran would be very happy to hear about the Chief Representative's bodyguard flying a ZAFT mobile suit at a time like this."

"I can't just sit by and do nothing in a situation like this," Kira replied, and his expression hardened. "And believe me, Captain," he went on quietly, but firmly, "I don't really care what Unato Ema Seiran thinks about this. In fact, it might even be a good thing if he gets angry about it."

That was all he'd allow himself to say on the subject… but Talia had the odd feeling that he was indicating he was hoping Unato Seiran would get angry enough to make a slip that would get him sacked from the prime minister post.

_I guess there really _are_ divisions in Orb's government right now,_ she mused. _Well, that would explain much…_

While she was still pondering the matter, Durandal spoke up thoughtfully. "I think… that might not be a bad idea," he said slowly.

Talia glanced at him. "Really, Your Excellency?"

The Chairman shrugged. "Think about it, Captain. It wouldn't hurt to show some direct cooperation between Orb and ZAFT… and we _do_ need all the support we can get, given how little time we have. There's no battle going on, either, so I think this is a good idea."

She frowned in thought. _Well… that's true enough, I suppose._ "Very well, then," she said, with a shrug of her own. "Commander Yamato, your request is approved. I believe the ZAKU you came aboard in has been repaired, so you can launch in that; you'd probably best use a Wizard pack this time around, as well."

Kira nodded, smiling faintly. "Thank you, Captain. And I kind of figured that; I piloted the machine that originated the concept, remember." Saluting briefly –in ZAFT style, no less- he departed the bridge.

* * *

Earth Orbit, Debris Belt, Ruins of Junius Seven

* * *

Standing on a chunk of battered rock, Dearka's ZAKU stood as a lookout over the operations of the Joule team's GuAIZ Rs as they began setting up meteor breakers through Junius Seven's structure. "So far, so good," he murmured to himself. "Maybe we'll pull this off after all… Hey, Yzak," he called, keying his radio. "Everything's going smoothly right now."

"Roger that," Yzak replied; his own Phantom was floating amongst the debris, giving him a wider field of view than Dearka. "Keep it up; we've only got a couple of hours, if that, before we'll have to back off or get fried."

"Believe me, I know," his exec said sourly. He recalled the first time he'd gone through independent atmospheric reentry all too well; it had been an unpleasant enough experience even in the Buster, and in something _without_ phase-shift armor… "You know," he mused, dragging his thoughts away from the matter of possible death, "I'm still kinda surprised you're out herself, Yzak, instead of watching from _Voltaire."_

"You know I prefer to lead from the front, Dearka," Yzak said irritably. "Besides, something about this situation doesn't smell right to me. I'd rather be out here and ready in case anything _does_ hap-"

A bolt of emerald light scorched by less the six centimeters from his left shoulder, lanced through a GuAIZ R's chest, and blew the machine apart in a fountain of flame and debris.

"What the-?!" Yzak spun around, and despite his existing misgivings, his eyes widened in surprise as over a dozen GINN High Maneuver Mark II mobile suits exploded out of hiding, engaging the ZAFT forces with ferocious attacks. "Dearka!"

"Already on it!" Dearka acknowledged, shoving off from his perch. Cursing as another GuAIZ R vanished in a ball of fire, he snapped up his cannon, and triggered a red-orange bolt that tore through the chest of one of the GINNs, smashing armor like tissue paper and blasting it apart from the inside. "Who _are_ these guys, anyway?"

"How should I know?!" Juking to his left, Yzak snarled in anger, and unleashing a burst from his Gatling beam cannons, shredding another of the GINNs. "Get in touch with _Minerva_ and _Odin,_ ASAP! We can't hold them off by ourselves!"

"Roger that!" Boosting away from the action to buy himself a few precious seconds, Dearka switched radio frequencies. "_Minerva,_ this is Dearka Elsman. We're under attack by GINN High Maneuver Mark IIs of unknown origin. We need assistance immediately! Please advise _Odin,_ as well; we can't hold them off for long!"

"_I understand,"_ Talia replied, voice taut. _"We're about to begin mobile suit operations ourselves. Hold them off for a few minutes, and you'll have reinforcements."_

"Thanks, Captain," he said, feeling a twinge of relief. "But you'd better hurry; Yzak and I are the only combat-effective units out here."

"_Captain Chance here, Dearka,"_ _Odin_'s captain cut in. _"The Major is preparing to launch, as well. We can't risk bringing in _Odin_ or any other resources identifiable as Section Nine, but his help should at least be useful."_

Dearka smiled, dodging an emerald dart that nearly blew off his left shoulder. "Falcon's coming? Great! Even in a mobile armor, he should be able to hold off a few of these guys all by himself."

"_Did I say he was going to be in a mobile armor?"_ Chance said dryly. _"Never mind, you'll be seeing him soon."_

"Better be soon," Yzak grunted, pulling out and twirling his beam axe. "I don't know who these guys are, but they're not your average renegades!"

"That's right," a new voice cut in, as yet another GINN appeared before them. "We're not the renegades… _you_ are, and we're going to finish the mission Patrick Zala began!"

* * *

_Minerva,_ Hangar

* * *

"Sounds like the situation's changed," Luna panted, rushing for her ZAKU. "What's going _on_ out there, anyway?"

"I'll brief you on the way," Millenia told her, pushing off toward the Strike Noir; despite having moved even faster during the run for the hangar, she didn't even appear to be breathing hard. "Besides, I'm not too sure myself."

"More Earth Alliance butchers?" Shinn wondered, pulling himself into the Core Splendor.

"Not likely," Kira told him, entering behind the others and making his way toward the newly repaired ZAKU he and Cagalli had come aboard in. "They wouldn't mind attacking us, I'm sure, but I can't seem them _trying_ to drop Junius Seven. That would be just hurting their own territory."

Shinn stared at him. "What are _you_ doing here?" he demanded, taking in Kira's outfit. The brown-haired pilot had changed from his black civilian clothes into a ZAFT red flightsuit… to which he'd pinned a pair of gray feathers, on the collar. "And what's with that-?"

"I offered to help out," Kira said simply, switching to radio communication as he closed up the ZAKU's hatch. "Guess my timing was even better than I thought… As for the feathers, let's just say you're not the only one to have a high regard for Ken DiFalco. And unlike you, I flew with him." _And it looks I'll be flying with him again today,_ he added silently. _As long as it goes better than the last time…_

He wasn't likely to forget their abortive duel at Jachin anytime soon.

"We can use all the help we can get," Rey noted calmly, beginning the startup sequence for his Phantom. "It sounds like we're going to be outnumbered."

"Probably so," Millenia concurred grimly. "Especially since I understand they're flying the final GINN model produced; not quite up to a ZAKU, but definitely better than the Joule team's GuAIZ Rs." She switched frequencies. "Bridge, this is Commander Crescent. We're ready to begin the operation."

"_Understood, Commander,"_ Talia responded. _"Launch when ready."_

"Roger that. Crescent team, head out!"

* * *

_Girty Lue,_ Hangar

* * *

"So… it's begun," Neo Roanoke mused, sitting in his mobile suit's cockpit.

The _Girty Lue_ had been there for days now, watching from under Mirage Colloid as Junius Seven continued her fall… guarded all the way by the contingent of what seemed to be rogue ZAFT pilots. Neo had considered engaging them personally, but the instructions from Admiral Sykes had changed his mind; in the wake of that, he'd chosen to wait for _Minerva_ and _Odin_ to arrive, so as to properly hinder their efforts without actually stopping them.

Given how adeptly the ship had escaped him last time, Neo had chosen to take the gloves off for this operation. He was expecting _Minerva_ to launch everything she had, including the two "Gundams" and the ZAKU Phantom; he was also anticipating possible intervention from some heretofore unseen Section Nine unit. The presence of an extra ZAKU launching from _Minerva_ had merely confirmed his decision.

This time, he was taking his personal mobile suit, and leaving the Exus in the hangar.

"Are we engaging?" Sting Oakley asked from Chaos, keyed up and anxious to launch.

"We are," Neo assured him. "You three engage the ZAKUs and GuAIZ Rs; and, for that matter, any GINNs that get too close. Commander Hamilton, I want you to keep _Minerva_'s Phantom busy, if you can. That pilot wasn't half bad… and I sense something about him."

"Understood," Hamilton acknowledged. "It'll be a fine chance to collect data for Project Zeta anyway. What about you, though, Sir?"

The masked captain's eyes narrowed. "I'll hang back at first… because despite _Odin_'s restraint, I think they're planning something. Something we may not otherwise be prepared for."

"Understood." The son of Admiral Hamilton wasn't entirely sure what Neo was expecting, but he, like Ian Lee, had come to respect the young captain's judgment.

_All systems ready,_ Neo noted, checking the power indicators for his fission reactor. _Time to go._ "Ian," he called, "I'm heading out now. The ship is in your hands."

"_Understood, Sir,"_ Lee replied. _"Good hunting."_

"Likewise." Neo's hands tightened on the controls. "Nightwing, heading out."

The mobile suit rushed forward, propelled by the linear catapult… and as the machine burst out into space, it drew the katana-like sword at its side, and spread all ten wings…

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

In the wake of the chase from Armory One, _Minerva_ has lost its target, but survived; now, after a brief respite, they are thrown into battle again, in an attempt to stop the fall of Junius Seven, instigated by what appear to be loyalists of Patrick Zala.

Meanwhile, _Girty Lue_ observes all… and Neo Roanoke sorties in the mysterious "Nightwing"…

Well, I realize this chapter may be a bit late, but I daresay that's easily explained by the sheer length of it; even I don't write fifteen-thousand-word chapters in a week. Hopefully, it was worth the wait; it has the beginning of a battle, and the introduction of a couple new mysterious elements… as well as the first two new "enemy admirals" (hey, I killed off Kreitzman, Truman, and Hamilton in the first story; _somebody_ has to take their place). Anyway, let me know what you think of it. –Solid Shark


	6. Chapter 6: Star of Sorrow

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

* * *

_Odin,_ Hangar

* * *

For the first time since returning to the _Archangel_ following the destruction of GENESIS at Second Jachin, Ken DiFalco sat in a mobile suit cockpit… and once again wore the same slate-gray flightsuit and black helmet, adorned by gray feathers that he'd used since the Battle of Nova, in C.E. 70.

He'd also dispensed with the gasmask for this mission, retaining only his old eyepatch; this time, Ken intended for his enemies to have no doubt as to the identity of their foe. He couldn't risk involving Section Nine directly… so he'd show himself as the Grimaldi Falcon for the first time in two years.

"Preflight check commencing," he announced to the bridge, pulling a cable from the socket in his flightsuit and plugging it into the machine's power supply. "Powering up main systems now; activating panoramic displays."

The cockpit lighting came alive, and the featureless interior of the pilot's module shimmered, revealing the area surrounding the mobile suit. Not that it was much to look at just then; only the walls of the cargo container currently encasing it.

"All systems normal," Ken continued. "Ready for combat operations."

"_Copy that, Major,"_ Chance replied from the bridge. _"Moving launch unit into the catapult."_ He paused. _"Are you sure about this, Sir? Launching in a cargo container… if something goes wrong, you'll be dead before you can do anything about it."_

"I'll be fine," the pilot assured him. "Believe me, Jason, I know what I'm doing."

Chance sighed. _"If you say so…"_

Ken turned his attention to another face on his display. "Rau," he said quietly, "if you find an opening, I want you to head out in my Exus."

Rau's face was very still. _"Are you certain of that, Falcon?"_ he asked quietly. _"Perhaps the new paintjob will be enough to disassociate it from Section Nine… but I'm not all certain I should be flying combat operations again."_

"You're the only other pilot aboard who can even fly it," the ace said bluntly. "Tom or Leanne could get it moving, sure, but you and I are the only pilots aboard who can use it effectively… and we made need all the help we can get out there. Is that clear, Commander?"

Rau sighed, still troubled, but intelligent enough to know the discussion was over._ "Understood, Falcon. I'll await orders… though I hope you don't mind me saying I hope you don't need to call me into this at all."_

"You're not the only one," Ken said grimly. "All right, Jason. This is Ken DiFalco, launching."

The seemingly-innocuous cargo container leapt out into space… carrying within a weapon most on both sides thought long gone…

* * *

Debris Belt, Junius Seven Ruins

* * *

"So who _are_ you?!" Yzak demanded, spitting an emerald dart at the lead GINN High Maneuver. "Why are you _doing_ this?! This won't accomplish anything but more conflict!"

"My name is Sato," the renegade replied, "and we're doing this because no one else will! Patrick Zala's noble mission was betrayed by that traitor DiFalco, and his bastard of a second in command finished Chairman Zala himself before GENESIS could be used to exact its vengeance!"

The silver-haired pilot glared at the GINN, even as he snapped his left shoulder shield forward to splatter its return fire. "Noble mission?" he repeated, sneering. "It was nothing more and nothing less than genocide; that's why even I took the Commander's side in that conflict. Genocide wouldn't have done anything except doomed us all!"

"Does it even matter now?" Sato shot back. "Earth has taken everything from me, and from so many others in the PLANTs! Whatever the risk to ourselves, the Naturals deserve nothing but annihilation for what they've done… and so do the traitors who made _peace_ with them!"

A bolt of red-orange fire nearly obliterated him, forcing him to dodge to the right as Dearka's ZAKU came up out of the debris field at him. "You'll have to kill almost every one of us, then," he said coldly. "And you'll have to kill my best friend, too… and if you can pull_ that off,_ it'll only be through a miracle."

"DiFalco, you mean?" The renegade snorted, snapping off another shot at Yzak; instantly, the blue Phantom twisted, slapping the emerald beam away with his right shoulder shield. "DiFalco is the greatest traitor of them all," Sato continued. "Him, along with the Gray Demons… they betrayed us all by fighting against Chairman Zala! If Cooper were still here, I'd take special care of him, because of what _Arkbird-!"_

"_Shut up!"_ Enraged by the slur on Lance Cooper's memory, Dearka fired off another shot, missing Sato but drilling straight through a chunk of rock as well as the GINN behind it, blasting them both apart in a shower of rocks and metal. "No one has the right to speak of Sparky like that!"

In his own cockpit, Yzak shook his head. "And they call _me_ hotheaded," he muttered, but he didn't really blame Dearka. He wasn't exactly pleased at hearing the _Arkbird_'s sacrifice demeaned so easily, either.

Unfortunately, the renegades clearly didn't care. In retaliation for Dearka's attack, another GINN swooped in toward the meteor breakers, drew the katana at its side, and slashed diagonally through a GuAIZ R, opening it from right shoulder to left hip, shredding circuitry, hydraulics, and armor like tissue paper. Even as it tore itself apart, the GINN dashed sideways, raised its rifle, and spat an emerald dart through the chest of another GuAIZ.

_Urgh! We're getting slaughtered out here!_ "_Minerva,"_ Yzak snarled, "where's our backup?! We can't hold out much longer!"

"_Under thirty seconds, Commander Joule,"_ Talia assured him. _"And the unit _Odin_ deployed should be there shortly, as well."_

He cursed under his breath, pulling out his beam axe again. "Better be, because there's way too many of these guys for us to handle by ourselves."

Yzak twirled his axe, scything it down the middle of a GINN, and the melee continued…

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"Mark II GINN High Maneuver units," Talia mused, shaking her head. "The most advanced model in our inventory, short of the new ZAKUs. Where could they have gotten those in the first place? This is clearly no ordinary pirate gang."

"No," Durandal agreed, watching as Impulse pulled itself together, then streaked off with its fellows to join the battle. "Clearly, they're former members of ZAFT itself… and I think I recall the name of their leader, Sato. Lost his daughter –and, I believe, his wife- in the Bloody Valentine, then served briefly with Commander DiFalco and Rau Le Creuset at Yggdrasil."

She glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "I'm surprised you'd pay that much attention to an individual ZAFT pilot, Chairman; your own sphere of authority wouldn't have extended much into that area at the time."

"His name came up when I was researching Commander DiFalco's records," he explained, waving a hand. "This was toward the end of the War, before Chairwoman Canaver erased his military history; I was doing some research in preparation for what became the Second Battle of Jachin Due, mostly to see for myself if DiFalco was likely to pose a threat to the PLANTs directly."

"And you remembered his name simply from perusing DiFalco's records over two years ago? I'm impressed."

Durandal smiled slightly. "To be perfectly honest, I didn't; when I made that data search two years ago, I deemed it prudent to maintain a copy of his personnel records myself. There wasn't as much as I might've liked –even then, much of his record was open only to Chairman Zala and his predecessor, probably because of GENESIS- but it was enough to give me an idea of who might be out here today."

"I see…" Talia nodded, almost to herself. "Prudent indeed, though I suspect much of the record is… outdated by now."

"Almost certainly," he agreed. "And trying to get information out of Section Nine is much like trying to get water from rock."

Behind them, the bridge hatch slid open, and Cagalli entered the darkened compartment. "What's going on?" she asked, pulling herself to the chair next to Durandal's. "Some of the crewmen I passed on the way here said the situation had changed…?"

Talia turned to her, expression grim. "I'm afraid so," she admitted, having decided there was no longer any point in keeping the Chief Representative in the dark on military matters. "The operation _was_ proceeding smoothly… but it seems to have been deliberate in the first place, and now those behind the colony drop are trying to prevent us from breaking it up."

Cagalli bit her lip. "And Kira's going out in that?" _I should've known… wherever we go, there always seems to be conflict…_

"He is," Durandal acknowledged, "but don't be too concerned, My Lady. We all know the skill of Freedom's pilot, and our own pilots are among the best in ZAFT, however young most of them may be. And, of course, they're led by one of our veterans, Commander Crescent." He looked at the main display. "I can't promise you that everything will be fine, My Lady –as a veteran such as yourself must know- but I _can_ assure you that every effort is being made, by some of the world's best pilots."

"That's true…" she murmured, feeling slightly more at ease. _Still… I should be out there, too. We fought together in the War, and we should be fighting together now._ Unnoticed by the others on the bridge, Cagalli nodded slowly to herself, face set. _Next time, I'm going out, too, and forget this whole "Chief Representative" stuff!  
_

* * *

Debris Belt, Junius Seven Ruins

* * *

Yzak cursed again, viciously, as he slammed the flat of his beam axe into a GINN. The renegade wasn't destroyed by it, but it did send the GINN tumbling into the debris field, where it smashed into a chunk of rock; judging from its subsequent aimless drifting, the impact had knocked the pilot unconscious.

Unfortunately, there were plenty more were it came from.

During the engagement, Sato had managed to escape from the two ZAKUs, presumably heading off to direct the renegade operations as a whole; since then, his many minions had continued harassing the pair, and destroying GuAIZ Rs when they had the opportunity.

"Sure brings back memories, doesn't it?" Dearka remarked, sending out another bolt of red-orange fire at a GINN. "From two years ago, I mean." As he spoke his target's chest was pierced by the cannon blast, glowed for a moment, and transformed with shocking suddenness into a cloud of vaporized metal.

Yzak grunted. "You mean facing off against the entirety of ZAFT's space forces, three full Earth Forces fleets, and about three thousand Dagger variations with only six ships and thirty-odd mobile suits?" With a wordless snarl, he swung his axe into a GINN's torso, dragged it through armor and circuits, then ripped it free, resulting in another explosion. _Must've hit the power battery. Good riddance!_

"Yeah," his friend said dryly, "that would be it. Ah, the good old days…" Shaking his head, he turned his cannon in another direction… and almost had heart failure when a staccato burst of rapid-fire lasers nearly tore him to shreds. "What on earth was that?!" he demanded, propelling himself vertically away from the onslaught.

Yzak cursed again, more vilely than before. "It's them," he snarled. "The stolen prototypes!"

Dearka turned his head, and his mouth tightened as he took in the sight. Gaia, Abyss, and Chaos were emerging from another section of the Debris Belt now; it had been Chaos' gunbarrels than nearly killed him… and the trio was not alone. Accompanying them was a machine with a black-and-white tiger stripe pattern, unlike any other known Earth Alliance mobile suit in design.

"Hamilton," Dearka said in disgust, recognizing it from data _Minerva_ had sent. "Great. The stolen prototypes… and Hamilton. Is this our lucky day, Yzak, or what?"

"Or what," Yzak replied, and swept his shields forward just in time to intercept an opening salvo from Abyss' cannons. "We've got to hold them off!"

In Chaos' cockpit, Sting Oakley grinned. "We've got them right where we want them," he told his fellows. "Time to finish the job!"

"Yeah," Auel Neider agreed. "Not too fast, though, remember. We're not supposed to completely block their mission; that would be even worse than doing nothing at all."

"Right," Stellar Loussier acknowledged calmly. "We'll destroy them on schedule…"

"Don't get carried away," Allen Hamilton warned, turning from side to side as he sought his own prey. "Play with them for a while, but don't get too caught up; there's still _Minerva_'s suits to worry about… and Section Nine. There'll be more advanced mobile suits coming soon enough."

"We know," Auel assured him. "But this isn't the same as last time. If all we have to do is delay them, we can do it." He smiled. "And if we can disable the fourth prototype…"

"Leave that decision to Captain Roanoke," Hamilton told him. "But… if you should happen to manage it in the course of 'delaying' it, I don't think anyone will complain." _If nothing else,_ he thought to himself, _data from Impulse would be valuable for the completion of Project Zeta…_ "At any rate," he went on, "there's no more time to discuss it. Engage the enemy."

"Roger that!" Sting replied, smiling savagely, and dove in toward the melee, followed by his two confederates.

Yzak snarled a curse, and rushed out to meet the Abyss. "I'm not letting you through!" he shouted, slashing viciously with his axe.

Auel swept out his lance at the last moment, managing to intercept the strike just short of his right fin. "Not happening," he muttered, and shoved back, forcing the ZAKU Phantom away. "A ZAKU, even a Phantom, isn't as good as Abyss, and I'm not letting an inferior machine take me down!" Reversing thrust, he spread his fins wide, charged his Callidus cannon, and let fly with six streaks of laser fire and a bolt of red-orange fire from his chest.

The Phantom snapped its shields forward, dissipating the tremendous energy imparted by the multiphase cannon, and Yzak boosted vertically to escape the remainder of the salvo, allowed the emerald beams to blast a chunk of rock to powder instead. "Those things are powerful," he grunted. "Watch yourself, Dearka!"

"I know," Dearka grunted back, wincing as a bolt from Chaos' rifle nearly tore his head off. "They're better than I expected, too; not as good as we were, but better than Olor or Matthew…" Glaring at the stolen unit, he triggered a powerful beam of his own, sending a fiery blast scorching toward Chaos' backpack. It grazed the machine's right shoulder, instead, leaving a molten gash in its wake, and Sting responded by deploying his gunbarrels.

At the same time, Gaia bore down on the GuAIZ Rs, drawing a saber with one hand and warding off incoming fire with the shield in its left hand. "I'm going to finish you off!" Stellar called, and swung-

–Just as a crimson bolt scorched in from her right, slamming into her saber blade and nearly forcing her to let go of the weapon entirely.

"Who did that?!" she demanded, looking about wildly. "Was it them?!"

Dearka turned his head, following the path of the beam to its source… and he smiled as he recognized the incoming suits. "Three ZAKUs, Impulse, and Strike Noir," he reported to Yzak. "Looks like the cavalry's arrived, Yzak."

"About time," Yzak muttered, warding off a thrust from Abyss' lance. "Where have you people been, anyway?"

"Dodging asteroids, Commander Joule," Millenia Crescent said dryly, pulling the beam swords from her wings and bringing them to life. "The Debris Belt isn't exactly a healthy place."

Dearka's eyes widened, hearing the voice. "Millenia? Is that you?"

"Long time no see, Dearka," she said by way of reply. "We'll talk later; right now, I think we've got a small war to stop, right?"

"Yeah… yeah, I guess we do, at that." _But I want some answers after this, Millenia. Falcon told me you were killed at Alaska…_

As Strike Noir joined up with the pair, Luna took in the sight of the stolen prototypes, and whistled tunelessly. "So they're here, too?" she said rhetorically. "Then it looks like we've got another chance to recapture them."

"It's a nice idea," Kira concurred, "but it's not what we're here for, remember? We don't have time to waste with them if we can help it."

"He has a point," Shinn Asuka agreed unwillingly. "We've got to stop the colony from falling first; _then_ we can worry about the stolen machines."

Overhearing the exchange, Yzak's eyebrows elevated involuntarily. "Is that you, Kira?" he said in surprise. "What are _you_ doing here, anyway? I thought you'd be in Orb!"

Kira shrugged. "Cagalli and I were at Armory One for a meeting with Chairman Durandal, and when things went wrong there, we kinda got caught up in it. I'm here now because I couldn't just sit by and do nothing while something like this was going on."

"Huh." The silver-haired pilot thought that over a minute, then realized he wasn't actually irritated._ He gave me that scar… but that was a long time ago, before we fought together. Now we've got more in common than not._ "Well," he said aloud, "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad you're here. We've got a lot of trouble, and having _you_ along can't hurt."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Kira, too, remembered the incident where he'd scarred Yzak… and the subsequent battle, in which Yzak had shot down a shuttle full of refugees while under the mistaken impression it was a troop transport. _But all that happened years ago; water under the bridge. Falcon told me he even got rid of the scar…_

In his GAT-04 Windam, Allen Hamilton took one look at the new arrivals, and pondered for a moment as to his plan of action. _Captain Roanoke told me to try and keep the Phantom busy… but any of us can do that; it's only a mass-produced machine, after all. No, I think it's time I exercised a little discretion… and engaged the Black Widow._

Acting on the idea, he pulled out a beam saber, brought it to life, and boosted toward the Strike Noir.

With her accelerated perceptions, Millenia saw him coming, and snapped up her right-hand blade to parry his. "So you're Jim Hamilton's son, huh?" she remarked, taking in the distinctive appearance of his machine. "Like father like son…"

"You don't know a thing about my father," Hamilton retorted, retracting his blade and then slashing down at Strike Noir's left wing. "You were out of the War by the time my father fell. So don't bother talking to me about him, Black Widow; you won't faze me with idle talk."

She twisted aside, and lashed out with both of her own blades. "Pity," she said dryly, "since I heard he actually repented in the end… just before Freedom blasted him and Azrael to kingdom come. Did you know that, Commander?"

He blocked the strike, angling his blade to catch both of hers at once. "I've heard his last words," he acknowledged. "And it doesn't matter. I'm no Blue Cosmos fanatic; their goals coincide a great deal with ours, but not necessarily their methods. If my father regretted his close association with them, that's between his ghost and Azrael's. _My_ duty is to the living… to finish the mission my father and others began."

Millenia shook her head, as the two machines launched into a furious serious of slashes, clashing, breaking apart, parrying… "Well, I admit you've got spirit… so let's see how you do." She smiled to herself. "I can't see how letting Junius Seven fall is supposed to help your mission… but it certainly won't help mine, and I'm not about to let you interfere."

The two forced each other away, then almost simultaneously switched to ranged weapons and began exchanging laser bolts, instead of slashes…

* * *

Earth Orbit, Lagrange Point 1, Earth Alliance Forces Mobile Assault Ship _Dominion,_ Bridge

* * *

Rear Admiral Sierra Novak watched the distant lights of battle, and sighed deeply. _So it begins,_ she thought. _Most of the world has no idea, but the first shots of a new war are being exchanged out there, between ZAFT, ZAFT renegades, and Phantom Pain… I wonder how many will realize our involvement, when all is said and done?_

She sat in the flag officer's chair on the bridge of the second ship to bear the name _Dominion._ The original had been destroyed at Second Jachin, along with her old commanding officer, James Hamilton; now she was in overall command of the ship's successor. A sign of trust, Novak supposed. The Earth Alliance currently had exactly two _Archangel_-class mobile assault ships in existence, with others in varying degrees of construction; that she had been given one of the priceless assets showed her superiors were pleased with her.

_Or rather,_ Novak thought dryly, _that Logos is pleased with me. If Djibril and Admiral Sykes didn't arrange this, I'll eat my rank insignia._

One of the admirals Logos, through Blue Cosmos, had recruited to replace Hamilton, Truman, and Kreitzman, Novak was as dedicated as any to victory for the Earth Alliance. She was no anti-Coordinator fanatic, but she truly believed it was necessary for the Earth Forces to win through. _The stranglehold the PLANTs have on our economy is intolerable,_ she thought. _Perhaps we were no better, framing them for the Copernicus bombing, and perhaps we _were_ too strict with them before the Revolution… but their autonomy has gone too far, and the root causes are now irrelevant. Victory _must_ be achieved… even if I despair at the tactics of the likes of Phantom Pain._

_Or at the very existence of Neo Roanoke._

"Admiral?" _Dominion_'s communications officer called, interrupting her reverie. "We have an incoming transmission from Arzachel Base for you, Ma'am."

"Put it through, Lieutenant," Novak ordered. _I was wondering when they'd remember my existence,_ she thought sourly. _For all the importance of this command… Well, I suppose the Armory One situation has been on everyone's minds._

"_I'm glad you're awake, Sierra,"_ Vice Admiral Richard Taggart remarked, appearing on the monitor on her right armrest. _"I believe it's _Dominion_'s nightshift right now, so I wasn't sure."_

"Is there a point to this message, Rick," Novak said dryly, "or are you just going to make small talk?"

Taggart chuckled. _"Same old Sierra. You know, if we weren't old Academy classmates, I might write you up for insubordination… All right, all right,"_ he said hastily, seeing her expression. _"I'll get right to the point, then. While the Chief Representative has been away, we've made progress with our negotiations with Prime Minister Seiran."_

"Negotiations," Novak repeated. "How much did you pay him?"

"_Two million,"_ the vice admiral replied cheerfully. _"Along with the promise we won't nuke them if they go along with us. He did say to expect some trouble when Athha returns –assuming she survives the current unpleasantness in the Debris Belt- but he expects to be able to handle it."_

"Good," she mused. "We could use a base in that area; more convenient to Carpentaria, among other things." She turned her attention back to her fellow admiral. "But why tell me right now?"

"_Because as soon as the treaty goes through, you'll be reassigned,"_ Taggart said bluntly. _"The minute the ink is dry, Sierra, you're to begin atmospheric reentry, and take up position as our 'military liaison' with Orb."_ He smiled. _"And with an _Archangel_-class in residence, I don't think ZAFT will be too interested in trying to bail them out… even if Seiran weren't going to be showing all the world that Orb is willingly in our camp."_

Novak nodded slowly. "You're probably right about that, Rick. Even Section Nine probably won't try anything, even with that maverick 'Major' in charge of them."

Having been present at the Second Battle of Jachin Due, she knew as well as anyone how frightening even one _Archangel_-class could be.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"The stolen Second-Stage units have entered the battle, Captain," Arthur Trine said worriedly, standing next to Meyrin's station. "I think we should do something about that; maybe open fire on Bogey One while their machines are away."

Durandal frowned deeply. "I'm not certain that's a good idea," he said slowly. "In fact… this may all be a misunderstanding on their part."

Trine blinked in confusion. "A misunderstanding? With all do respect, Your Excellency, I think this goes a bit beyond a 'misunderstanding'!"

The Chairman tapped his armrest. "I'm not so sure, Mr. Trine. Actually, their actions make perfect sense, under the right circumstances. It could well be, in fact, that they believe _we're_ responsible for this entire situation."

If anything, _Minerva_'s exec was even more baffled by that statement. "But… but Your Excellency, that doesn't make any sense! We're the ones trying to _stop_ the colony drop!"

"Maybe so," Talia said thoughtfully, "but it may not look that way to them. Think about it, Arthur: if Daggers were involved, our own immediate conclusion would be that the Earth Alliance was behind it. Considering the presence of GINN HM types, apparently piloted by ZAFT renegades, such an assumption on their part isn't even too far from the truth… and while it should be obvious even to them that one side is trying to resolve the crisis, the amount of shooting going on must make it difficult to tell which is which."

"Indeed," Durandal agreed, and looked down at the captain. "In that case, I'd suggest opening communications with Bogey One. Perhaps point out to them that we're be better off working together in this situation, or at least without open hostilities."

She nodded. "Agreed. Meyrin, transmit the message as previously indicated over the International Distress Channel. The sooner we resolve this matter, the better it'll be for all of us."

Meyrin nodded sharply. "Right away, Ma'am."

As the younger woman turned back to her station, Talia looked to her right, at Bart Heim. "Bart, is there any sign of Moebius One yet?"

"Sort of, Captain," he replied, checking his displays. "I don't know exactly what it is, but there's a contact approaching from _Odin_'s position. It… it looks like some kind of cargo container, but…"

"Hm… sounds like the Major is being sneaky," Talia mused. "Concealing his cards until the last possible moment…"

"That would be like him," Durandal agreed. "As he says, 'surprise' on the battlefield is usually simply the misinterpretation of existing data. Misdirection has always been his habit."

* * *

Debris Belt, Junius Seven Ruins

* * *

Shinn cursed, parrying Gaia's Vajra beam saber with his own. _They're good,_ he thought, angrily shoving the stolen machine backwards. _Who _are_ they?!_ Having gained a small amount of breathing space, he went on the offensive, slashing down with his blade of frozen fire.

Stellar glared, stopping the weapon a meter from Gaia's head. "I don't know who you are," she said angrily, "but you're not beating me! Not again!" Catching the next furious slash on her shield, she lashed out herself, trying to bisect Impulse at the waist.

Shinn swatted the attack with his own shield, sending out sparks as energy blade clashed with anti-beam coating. _Not happening!_ Interposing his shield for another moment, he powered down his saber and lifted his rifle again, instead. "You're not beating me!"

Gaia's optics registered the change, and Stellar shoved her machine back to her left just before the first emerald dart could skewer her cockpit. "Bastard," she hissed, as the errant shot melted a small gash in the armor of Gaia's left "bicep" area.

Some distance away, Luna exchanged cannon fire with Abyss, each managing to blow up a rock instead of each other with their first shots. "I _knew_ this was going to happen," she muttered, more to herself than to anyone who might have been listening. "I scored low on debris field simulations, so naturally I get stuck fighting in the Debris Belt itself, against a machine that was supposed to be fighting _with_ me…" Cursing under her breath, she snapped up her shoulder shield just in time to intercept a barrage of lasers from Abyss' fin-mounted triple beam cannons.

As soon as the emerald energy ceased spattering on the shield, Luna lowered it, snapped her beam cannon up into firing position, and ripped off another bolt of destructive energy, trying to tear off Abyss' left fin.

Auel had other ideas, opening up with his CIWS even as he juked left to let the blast scorch by. "Bastard," he said under his breath. "I better be careful, or that cannon will blow me apart. I can't afford to take even one hit…"

Spinning around to dodge another streak of red light, he spread his fins and let loose with another barrage of his own, putting Luna on the defensive again.

* * *

Kira had been the one targeted by the Chaos, and he wasn't enjoying the experience, as he dodged rapid laser fire from its gunbarrels.

In fact, he was having flashbacks to the Second Battle of Jachin Due, when he'd fought first Preybird and then Providence, both of which had used remote weapons to their considerable advantage. He'd managed to avoid most of the fire back then, but it had most definitely been a near thing.

_Of course,_ he reflected, spattering another burst on his shield, _Ken and Le Creuset were a lot better at using those things than this guy is._

"This guy's good," Sting muttered in irritation, trying to vector his gunbarrels in for a lethal strike against the green ZAKU. "Better than one of _Minerva_'s rookies should be… Take this!" he added, triggering his gunbarrels' assault cannons and his own rifle in the same moment.

Kira reacted instantly, reversing thrust with punishing deceleration, before raising his beam rifle. No longer flying with a basic loadout, the Blaze Wizard pack gave him more options… but as ever, he was perfectly at home with a standard rifle.

At home to the extent that he didn't even bother with his targeting computer before opening fire.

The ZAKU snapped off two shots in rapid succession, spitting emerald darts on two different vectors before Sting even registered the movement. The first partially merged with an incoming bolt, losing some of its punch in the process, but it kept on going with sufficient energy to blast apart one of the gunbarrels in a furious explosion of shrapnel.

The second came in at the precise instant the other gunbarrel's assault cannon paused to recharge its capacitor, smashing through the cannon's bore and shredding the gunbarrel itself.

"One threat down," Kira said to himself. "Now the odds are a little more even."

"You _bastard!"_ Sting snarled. "Who _is_ this guy, anyway?!" Muttering imprecations under his breath, he charged his chest-mounted Callidus multiphase energy cannon, and prepared to fire… then paused, as something else got his attention.

What appeared to be a cargo container had streaked into the battle area, right in the midst of the firefight. It didn't appear threatening, but the sheer incongruity of its presence in such a situation had gotten the attention of several of the combatants, including Auel, Sting, Kira, and Hamilton.

"That's… that must be Ken's work," Kira murmured, thinking aloud. "But… he's gotta be crazy if he's trying to get through this in something like _that!"_

Hamilton's reaction was very different… and possibly more accurate. "That's a Section Nine trick," he radioed to his fellows. "It must be. Sting, Auel, we have to shoot it down before it can deploy whatever nasty surprise the Major has in store for us."

"Roger that," Auel replied readily, turning his attention away from Luna long enough to target the container.

"Got it," Sting echoed, and raised his beam rifle, while at the same time preparing to unleash his existing cannon charge on the peculiar new arrival.

"Ken!" Kira called, knowing instinctively that his mentor and friend was indeed within the container. "Watch out, they're going to-!"

Auel opened fire first, his fin-mounted cannons tearing at the outer frame of the container; at the same time, Sting triggered his own weapons, sending a blaze of red-orange fire and a much smaller emerald dart at it… and even as they engaged, several of the GINN HMs got in the act, as well. Holes were now beginning to appear in the container's structure, and one corner had been ripped away by multiphase energy fire…

Then emerald light exploded from _within_ the cargo container, tearing at it from the inside. The entire box-like shape glowed from the intensity of the energy discharge, parts of it melting under the abuse… and it all blew apart, flinging mangled debris everywhere.

In that moment, radios on all sides emitted an inhuman, ascending wail.

Heads turned as veterans of the previous war registered the sound of a call not heard in two years, and in the cockpit of the lead renegade GINN, Sato's lips drew back in a snarl. _"You!_ You traitorous-!"

Emerging from the fury of the cargo container's destruction, a shape with slate-gray limbs and head, with a crimson torso, spread its ten black wings, and raised a katana-like blade before its face.

It took the rookies present at least a moment to recognize it, though recognize it they did (unlike its pilot, records of _it_ remained, if only from battle footage), but others knew it immediately. For Sato's renegades, it was the mark of a traitor, much like the peregrine falcon's hunting call. For the mainline ZAFT troops, it was seen with a mixture of fear and confusion; for the Earth Forces, a mark of something to be very, very wary of.

None of them mistook the form of ZGMF-X00A Preybird for anything else.

In the moment that everything stood frozen, though –save, of course, for the continuing battle between the Joule team and the renegades, as well as the currently oblivious Shinn and Stellar- Kira took in the sight of his friend's old machine with more than a little relief… but as he did, he noticed the mobile suit had changed since its last battle. No longer did its shoulders end in beam boomerangs; similarly, it had only one rifle, clamped at the small of its back. Most noticeable, though, was the absence of the twin satellite cannon barrels mounted in the wings. Instead, they appeared to have been replaced with a pair of antiship swords, resembling the Impulse's Excaliburs.

All in all, Kira decided, it looked even more menacing than before.

Hamilton was the first to react, cursing viciously under his breath. "Preybird," he hissed. "The Butcher Bird himself… blast it, Roanoke miscalculated this time! Of all the people to appear, Ken DiFalco had to come back to the battlefield?!"

The momentary lull in the battle was enough to get Shinn's attention, and his eyes widened. "It's him…" he whispered. "He's come back… openly…" He remembered seeing the demonic mobile suit years earlier, during the Battle of Orb; though it had been from some distance away, he remembered the havoc Preybird had wrought on the Earth Forces there. _Now we've got something that can fight Bogey One's people on more than even terms,_ Shinn thought, pride in his own abilities warring with the satisfaction of fighting alongside his hero's machine.

Rey and Luna were less sanguine at the sight, being among those more ambivalent about the Grimaldi Falcon's previous role; Luna, in fact, was actually nervous, considering that this action was a complete departure from Ken's earlier insistence on secrecy.

Millenia, blade still pressing against Hamilton's, viewed the sight with mixed emotions. _He's declared himself opening,_ she thought to herself. _That battle cry… he's taken up his true name again, and his mobile suit. Does that mean… he might yet return…?_

Yzak and Dearka were still trying to fend off the GINN HMs, but Dearka managed to spare a moment to grin toward Preybird. "About time you got here, Falcon!" he called. "Glad to see you!"

All that occurred in mere seconds… and Preybird began to transmit again. "This is former Commander Kenneth DiFalco, True ZAFT forces," Ken said clearly, his helmeted face appearing on several mobile suit communications monitors. "I give this warning to the renegades and Earth Forces here, and only this warning: if you proceed with combat operations, I can and will destroy you." His one-eyed visage was fixed in a scowl. "I will not permit my home to be used in this manner… not again!"

A harsh laugh followed his statement. "If you think I'm intimidated, think again," Sato said harshly. "Grimaldi Falcon, the greatest traitor of them all. Your work has only added to the tragedy of Elizabeth's death… I won't be defeated by the Lord of the Demons!" Brandishing his beam rifle, he fed power into his thrusters, and charged toward Preybird, spitting emerald darts as he came.

Ken's eye narrowed. "Sato… that's not very smart of you." Raising Preybird's left arm, he brought to life the beam shield embedded there, generating a rectangular field that shrugged off the laser fire with ease. "Are you really that suicidal?" Shutting down the shield, he pulled back his Gerbera Straight, preparing to engage the renegade…

Strike Noir suddenly interposed itself between the two of them. "He's mine, Falcon," Millenia said coldly. "You do what you can about the others, but Sato's mine. He already slurred Sparky's memory, and I don't like that any more than you would."

Ken blinked, narrowed his eye… and nodded fractionally, lowering his blade. "He's all yours, then. I'll help your people fend off Bogey One's units and Sato's other renegades."

"Roger that. Keep yours eyes open, though; Hamilton's machine might actually be able to hold you off for a little while… and there _are_ three of the Second-Stage units on their side."

"I'll bear that in mind." The ace snapped his gaze to Kira's ZAKU. "You okay, amigo?"

Kira nodded. "Just fine, Ken. I'm glad to see you, and Preybird; I just hadn't realized the refit was complete yet."

"Just recently," Ken told him. "Would've been ready sooner, but we had a few mods to make." He paused. "Kira… these renegades of Sato's. They have one thing in common with me: they're believers, utterly devoted to their cause. You know what that means."

The younger pilot took a deep breath. "I understand, Ken. Don't worry. Against them… shoot to kill." His gaze was unhappy, but firm nonetheless. "Like you said… the only way to stop someone like that is to kill them."

"Lesson Forty-six," Ken acknowledged. "Now…we've got another battle to fight, amigo. Time to save the world… again."

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Arthur Trine was struck dumb by the appearance of the ghost of the previous war; Talia, accustomed by now to Trine's somewhat simple ways, simply ignored him. "Preybird," she murmured. "I had no idea it was still around at all."

"Agreed," Durandal said from the bridge's aft. "My own assumption was that it was damaged beyond repair by the destruction of GENESIS." He turned to his left. "Would you happen to have any information about this, Lady Cagalli? If you don't mind, of course."

Cagalli shrugged. "I was there when it was recovered, and I knew Ken intended to restore it," she admitted. "Most people don't realize it, but Section Nine isn't actually bound by the Junius Treaty; it was established by it, but it's part of a loophole. The Treaty provisions only apply to the PLANTs, Orb, and the Earth Alliance member nations, so an extra-national organization like Section Nine slips by because it's neither established by nor based within the territory of a Treaty signatory."

Durandal smiled faintly. "I sense Commander DiFalco's touch in that; not, of course, that I object. Section Nine has long been known to possess nuclear weapons, as part of its 'secondary' mission, so the possession of a nuclear-powered mobile suit is hardly out of the question."

He tactfully refrained from bringing up the small matter of the one other known nuclear-powered machine, the one which _was_ a violation of the Junius Treaty… but was conspicuously ignored by all sides. The PLANTs had no issue with it… and the Earth Alliance knew the PLANTs, Section Nine, and Orb would all rip them to pieces if they _did_ complain.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Chairman," Cagalli said sincerely. "But to return to your original question, while I did know Preybird still existed, my own understanding was that it wasn't yet ready for combat operations." She shrugged. "Section Nine tends to keep Orb slightly more informed about its activities than the PLANTs, because of various personal ties to us, but Ken's always liked keeping secrets." _That's putting it mildly,_ she added silently. _His left hand probably doesn't tell his right hand what it's doing, in case it breaks during interrogation…_

"So I understand," he murmured, a trace of amusement in both voice and expression.

"Captain," Meyrin called, breaking into the conversation, "we have a situation update from the Joule team, along with positional data of the meteor breakers."

Talia glanced up at her. "How is their part of the operation proceeding?"

"Mixed results, Ma'am," Meyrin replied grimly, transferring the relevant data to a more convenient display. "So far, over thirty renegades have been confirmed, and the Joule team has suffered a number of casualties. However, a number of meteor breakers have been successfully emplaced, and are prepared to separate the wreckage into small sections."

"Hm…" The captain frowned deeply, thinking over the implications of the report. _Smaller pieces… but that's not good enough. Not nearly good enough. With something the size of Junius Seven's remains…_ "We have to do more," she murmured.

Durandal looked over to her. "Are you suggesting bringing _Minerva_ directly into combat, Talia?"

Talia nodded slowly. "I'm afraid so, Chairman." She nodded at the display showing the meteor breaker dispersal. "Judging from this, it'll only separate the colony into two large pieces; computer estimate shows some of it would probably maintain a stable orbit from here, but the other half would continue to descend, most likely faster than we can emplace new meteor breakers. The only way we're going to be able to compensate is with _Minerva_'s weaponry."

"Are you sure about this, Captain?" he asked quietly. "You we're able to completely repair the damage inflicted during the battle with Bogey One; if you engage in direct action now…"

"I'm aware of the risks," she said flatly, "but quite frankly, the safety of Earth takes priority over the safety of this ship. I believe we can do this, Chairman… and I also think you should transfer over to the _Voltaire_ immediately. We can't risk you, Your Excellency."

Durandal merely sat there for a moment, considering the seemingly mad plan. _It's risking an important asset,_ he thought, concerned. _This ship, Shinn Asuka, and Commander Crescent… they're crucial. _Minerva_ is the only ship that can win the coming conflict… and Shinn is the sword that could defeat Kira Yamato, should the need arise, and be the vanguard for the Destiny Plan._

_And Crescent is perhaps the only pilot we have who can outmatch DiFalco, especially now that we know he still has Preybird. Nonetheless… the Destiny Plan itself will be a moot point if Earth is too badly damaged by Junius Seven's fall._

At last, he nodded. "Very well, Captain. I'll be leaving immediately, then." The Chairman turned to Cagalli. "Lady Cagalli, if you would accompany me as well? It's best to get you to safety as soon as possible…"

Cagalli shook her head firmly. "No, Chairman. I'm staying right here. Kira's out there, and I'm not abandoning him. I won't leave until I know he's safe." _I should be out there right now, too,_ she didn't add. _Instead of cowering here… If I can't be out there with him, then at least I'll share the danger from here!_

Durandal gazed into her eyes for several moments, as though trying to read her feelings… and then slowly nodded. "I understand, My Lady," he said quietly, reflecting inwardly on the bond between the two Ultimate Coordinators. Then, turning back to Talia, he added, "I wish all of you the best of luck. For what it's worth, I believe these actions to be in the finest tradition of ZAFT."

Talia nodded back. "Thank you Chairman. I hope we'll continue to act in such a manner in the future, as well." Her words acknowledged the possibility of failure; her tone indicated she believed no such thing would happen.

As Durandal exited through the bridge hatch, he could hear Talia begin barking orders… and then an incredulously gasp from Heim. "Captain! There's something else out there! It looks like…!"

* * *

Debris Belt, Junius Seven Ruins

* * *

The first thing Ken did after turning the Sato problem over to Millenia was turn to his right, pull out the peculiar rifle with one hand, and trigger a single shot at a GINN HM II that had tried to sneak up on him from behind.

Much to the GINN pilot's extremely brief surprise, it was not a standard emerald laser blast that reached out for him, but rather a scattershot of red-orange fire. He had the tiniest instant to feel heat… and then the entire torso of his mobile suit blew apart, literally heated to the melting point by the power burst.

Unlike the Talon rifles Preybird had once carried, this was no beam weapon. Instead, it fired a maser burst: focused microwave radiation. In essence, it was a miniaturized Cyclops system… and like the full-size units used at Endymion and Alaska, the presence of Neutron-jammers confined the microwaves, resulting in an even more powerful blast than otherwise. A short-range weapon only, it fitted with Ken's preference for close combat… and proved lethal to anyone caught in it.

"Sato was right," another renegade hissed, zigzagging toward Preybird in a pattern he hoped would save him from the scattergun. "He _is_ the Demon Lord! You stopped Chairman Zala's ideals once, but we're not letting you stop _us!"_ He snapped up his beam rifle, just outside of what appeared to be the maser rifle's maximum range, and opened fire.

Ken wasted no time with his rifle or with the rail cannons mounted on Preybird's hips, instead smiling coldly… and deploying the one other ranged weapon the newly-streamlined machine retained. Sections of each of Preybird's wings fell away, activated thrusters of their own, and vectored outward, and then slashed across space in a pattern the renegade's targeting computer simply couldn't keep up with.

And once they were completely scattered, they aimed toward the GINN, and spat forty beams of green light at it.

The same energy fire that had broken Preybird out of its temporary confinement struck the GINN HM at full power, making the entire unit glow, warp… and vanish like smoke blown away in the wind.

"Amateurs," Ken whispered contemptuously, recalling his DRAGOON system, the vicious anger he felt at the use of his birthplace for such an atrocity locked behind the same mental doors that had kept his much of his humanity sealed away during the War. "Only complete idiots would charge after Preybird that way, without even a nuclear-powered mobile suit…"

Then a familiar sensation filled his head, and he threw Preybird backward on pure instinct, as forty streaks of pure energy came straight at _him._

"What the-?!" Startled out of his habitual calm, Ken wrenched his head around, wondering what on earth had just tried to kill him… and then his eye widened in shock.

Appearing out of Mirage Colloid cloak, the mobile suit was black, with ten wings, a pair of rail cannons on the hips, beam boomerangs in the shoulders, plasma cannons in the wing roots, what appeared to be a sheathed Gerbera on its left hip, twin beam rifles in hand… and ten remote emitters circling around it. It looked remarkably like a blending of the designs of GAT-X105 Strike and ZGMF-X10A Freedom.

Or, more precisely, like a copy of the original specifications of ZGMF-X00A Preybird.

"So," Neo Roanoke mused, speaking to his foe for the first time, "you're the Grimaldi Falcon… I guess you're not as much a thing of the past as everyone thought."

Ken's eye narrowed. "I thought the Earth Alliance called me the Butcher Bird," he said slowly, wishing he could put a face to the voice. It sounded somehow familiar… "And you are?"

"I never said I was Earth Alliance," the blonde-haired man in the mask replied easily. "Besides, I think the renegade's name for you suits the leader of the Gray Demons, wouldn't you agree?" He smiled thinly. "As to a name… there's no harm in that, I suppose. I'm Neo Roanoke, Demon Lord, Captain Neo Roanoke… and I happen to be the man who is going to end your scourge once and for all."

"Don't count on that," Ken warned, redeploying his DRAGOON system. "A lot of people have tried that in the past… and most of them aren't with us any longer. Even with that copy of Preybird, do you really think you can take me?"

"Let's find out," Neo replied softly, putting away his rifles. "The last time we fought, you came away with the greater damage… so let's see how you do in your element, against Nightwing!"

Simultaneously drawing Gerberas, Preybird and Nightwing charged toward each other, DRAGOON systems already firing…

* * *

_Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

"What in the world is going on out there?!" Rau demanded, uncharacteristically energized by the events occurring in the battle area.

"That looks like a copy of Preybird," Tom Delaney replied, face white. "The Earth Forces aren't as stupid as we thought… they must've gotten built it based on observational data from the battles two years ago."

"No way," Chance disputed, shaking his head. "Most of it, I'll buy, but they had to have had access to the original plans for it to be that maneuverable. You should know, Tom, you built the thing: simple battle data wouldn't give them the secret of Preybird's synthetic muscle tissue and artificial nerve fibers, remember?"

Rau swore, preempting Tom's imprecation. "Then we have a traitor somewhere in our ranks," he said darkly. "And when Falcon finds out who's behind this, I would not put it past him to execute the traitor on the spot."

"Forget the how and why," Leanne interjected, "and think about the here and now. I think we all realize there's another component to this: no ordinary pilot could manage Preybird –or its copy- like that. Kira, maybe, but not many others, and I don't think _any_ Natural could handle it that well." She winced then, seeing the twin machines clash and then shove apart, DRAGOON emitters mingling and exchanging fire in a kaleidoscope of green light. "Mu flew it a couple times during the War, and while he was good, he was missing the Boss's touch for managing all systems at once."

"Pity we can't reach him at the moment," Rau mused, regaining his calm. "If anyone, he would probably have at least some idea of who that might be. But…"

"But he's still on Earth," Tom finished, "and we're up here, out of communications range." He shook his head. "Sparky, old buddy, we could really use you and the old gang right now…"

* * *

Debris Belt, Junius Seven Ruins

* * *

Ken weaved through the web of DRAGOON lasers, occasionally deflecting some streaks with his Gerbera, trying to get into reach of the copy of his own machine that his enemy flew. That was made slightly easier by the fact that Nightwing was heading straight for him… but the mutual fire from their DRGOON systems was proving to also be a mutual complication.

"I know you're Earth Forces," he called, briefly energizing one of his beam shields to ward off half a dozen emerald streaks. "I wasn't sure before, but after everything I've seen since the attack on Armory One began, there's no doubt left in my mind."

"Are you really that certain of yourself?" Neo replied, smiling slightly. "Where's your proof, Demon Lord?" Activating an arm-mounted light-wave barrier, he calmly absorbed fire from three of Ken's DRAGOON emitters, then unfolded his rail and plasma cannons, pulled out his beam rifles, and opened fire with all six weapons and his DRAGOON system simultaneously.

Gritting his teeth, Ken clasped Preybird's hands, activated both beam shields, and used them in combination with his Gerbera to disrupt the massive barrage. Rail cannon slugs suicided against the shields, plasma bolts lost cohesion, and lasers bounced away in all directions, obliterating debris and just incidentally shredding a renegade GINN.

"My 'proof', as you put it," he began, darting forward again, "is a mound of evidence only a blind man could ignore. You deployed Dagger Ls at Armory One and sortied in an Exus yourself; the only organization I know of that might've stolen those from their rightful owners is Section Nine, and I should know that they weren't involved. Moreover," he added swinging his Gerbera as he entered effective range at last, "I have plenty of experience fighting the kind of pilots you put in the Second-Stage units. If those aren't biological CPUs, then my instincts have atrophied in two years… and I don't believe they have."

"You're obviously still quite the analyst, Demon Lord," Neo acknowledged, catching the diagonal slash on his own Gerbera's blade. "But that's hardly damning evidence; we ourselves proved at Armory One that it's hardly impossible to steal military secrets, and Dagger variations have spread everywhere anyway." Shoving Preybird's weapon away, his lunged forward before Ken could compensate, directing his DRAGOON system to surround and attack even as he thrust his weapon's tip right for Preybird's cockpit.

Ken threw Preybird into an ascending spin, whirling in a dizzying evasive pattern through the deadly web of lasers, and chopped down with his Gerbera, catching Nightwing's near its tip and forcing it down into empty space between Preybird's legs. "If you want me to be more specific, then perhaps I should enlighten you about a small fact; I daresay your masters will realize it soon enough anyway." Clearing the mad weave of DRAGOON fire, he sheathed his Gerbera, drew both sabers, and ignited the twin weapons of frozen flame. "I already know about Logos… and I'm bringing you all down."

Neo twitched at the confirmation that his foe was indeed fully aware of the shadowy organization, and actively attacking it, but he didn't let it interfere with his fighting. "That presupposes you live to see another day, Demon Lord," he said coolly, and withdrew his own fiery blades. "Because quite frankly… I intend for this to be your last encounter with us."

* * *

Clashing blades with the renegade Sato, Millenia determined with a silent curse that the man had anticipated an attack by ZAFT forces armed with energy-type melee weapons; if he hadn't, his blade would never have survived the blow from her own beam sword.

"So you've added anti-beam coating, have you, Sato?" she said through gritted teeth, shoving the GINN HM back. "You're as clever as Falcon said, the one time he mentioned you."

Sato barked out a harsh laugh, raising his shield to take the force of her next slash. "He's spoken of me, has he? So even the Lord of Demons acknowledged the skill of his foe… Well, it's well that he does, because I'm going to use that skill to make sure none of you can stop my revenge from taking place."

Boosting around to one side, he darted in to slash at Strike Noir's wing, trying to damage the one part of the machine not protected by variable phase-shift armor.

"Don't be flattered," Millenia retorted, twisting around to catch the metal blade on her left-hand sword. "He acknowledged you were clever… but he also said that, on the battlefield, you're nothing more than a dilettante. And," she added, snapping her linear guns into firing position, "he said you were too obsessed with vengeance to ever be a true soldier of ZAFT. I see he was right about that part, at least."

Sato had to snap his shield up to block the projectiles, and even then the hypervelocity slugs canceled much of his forward momentum. "Of course I'm committed to vengeance," he shot back. "If the Demon Lord had any spine, he would be, too! We all lost someone at Junius Seven; even to those who were more isolated from the event, it should've been a call to battle, a sign of the punishment we must inflict on the Naturals for what they've done!" Sheathing his sword, he raised his beam rifle, and snapped off a quick pair of shots.

Lacking a shield of her own, Millenia reacted in a way she'd seen Falcon do in the past, something she herself hadn't been capable of… until her body had become so different from old. Boosting to the side, she lashed out with her swords, catching the emerald darts on the fiery beam edges of her weapons and sending them out into deep space.

"Vengeance gets you nowhere," she said angrily, returning her blades to her wings and lifting her twin "Shorty" beam rifles. "At the best of times, its part of an endless cycle, which can be stopped only by the deaths of all involved… or by someone having enough sense to give up the vendetta." Sighting in her weapons, she squeezed the triggers, adding, "What you're doing now is even worse than that, because it would mean the end of _everyone!"_

Sato's GINN boosted vertically and slightly to one side, causing one of the bolts to harmlessly scorch past its head… but the other struck home on his right leg, ripping into the ankle joint with enough power to melt circuits and hydraulics, and tear the entire connection apart.

The renegade cursed as that foot exploded, but he didn't let it affect his flying… much. "I'm not expecting to live past this battle," he told Millenia, firing off several more shots. "Whatever happens, I'm riding Junius Seven down, so that I can be with my daughter again; after that, what happens to the PLANTs isn't even my concern, now is it?"

Millenia shook her head, weaving through the volley of emerald fire. "Falcon was definitely right about you, Sato: you could never be a true soldier of ZAFT. When he lost someone to the Bloody Valentine, he didn't waste time with vengeance –at least, not with _direct_ vengeance- but rather fought harder than ever to protect what remained. He mourned for the dead, but he remembered that his responsibility was to make sure they hadn't died in vain. _Never_ would he have done something like _this_ without considering the consequences toward the PLANTs!"

"I always knew DiFalco was a fool," Sato said dismissively. "But I don't care about his attitude anymore. Even if he survives the battle with that copycat, his fate will be the same as anyone else's in the wake of Junius Seven's fall… and the same as yours." His lips drew back in a snarl. "You're going to join Sparky Cooper in the next life before this day is done, Black Widow!"

The two of them snapped their ranged weapons into firing position, and spat a barrage of emerald darts and hypervelocity slugs across space…

* * *

"There's too many of them," Luna said, voice taut, as she targeted a GINN HM with her cannon. "We can't fight them all off by ourselves!" Despite her words, however, she didn't hesitate to pull the trigger; before the enemy could open fire on her, her ZAKU's cannon blast took it in the chest, melting a hole clean through and setting off a chain reaction that shortly tore the entire unit apart, throwing yet more debris into the Belt.

"We have to keep it up anyway," Shinn said, in response to her words. Even as he spoke, his beam saber rammed through the hatch of another renegade, killing the pilot before he could even scream; the lifeless mobile suit then drifted away, sparking. "The others are all busy; even Commander DiFalco and Commander Crescent have been diverted."

"Right," Rey concurred, futilely chopping at his own adversary. "This is a complex situation, though; accomplishing the mission under these circumstances will not be an easy task."

He wasn't kidding. For the three of them, even GINN HM IIs weren't that great a threat, as they themselves flew top of the line ZAFT models. Unfortunately, the renegades weren't the only issue at the moment.

"Interesting," Hamilton remarked, nimbly dodging Rey's axe. "ZAFT against ZAFT… I might compare it to True ZAFT's actions two years ago, except True ZAFT never showed any inclination toward mass destruction…"

The three ZAFT pilots had gotten separated from Kira and the Joule team midway through the battle, when Hamilton chose to engage Rey's Phantom; the resulting three-on-one confrontation had been brief, though, as the chase had led them all straight into another cluster of renegades. Kira had attempted to help, destroying three of them with precision shots of his own, but then he'd been forced to depart himself, realizing little stood between the rest of Sato's terrorists and the GuAIZ Rs setting up the meteor breakers.

Now the rookies were on their own, and while they were holding their own, it wasn't a very pleasant experience.

"To your left, Shinn!" Luna warned, swinging her cannon barrel toward the new threat. "Watch your back!"

"Get away!" Shinn shouted, spinning around. Snarling, he swept his shield up, catching the downward slash the GINN HM had directed at his flight unit, then lashed out viciously with his saber. The blade of frozen fire caught the GINN at the left hip, struggled inward, and tore straight up, burning and tearing a trench through the machine's torso, cockpit, energy battery, and head, before coming out the top.

The red-orange burst from Luna's cannon scorched through vaporized metal, serving as little more than an insult to the dead pilot.

"That kid has potential," Hamilton murmured to himself, firing his CIWS to shred a missile salvo from Rey's Phantom. "I should warn Roanoke we need to get rid of Impulse, once I get back… He's too dangerous to leave alive."

Shaking himself out of his reverie, the Earth Forces pilot fired off a barrage of missiles himself, from the pods on his Striker pack's flight unit.

Rey cursed to himself, abandoning his offensive effort momentarily in favor of launching the last of his Wizard pack's missiles. They streaked in toward Hamilton's salvo, then exploded as soon as their proximity detonators came into range of the opposing weapons. The subsequent cloud of shrapnel lay directly in the path of Hamilton's missiles, which shortly tore themselves apart in what was effectively mutual suicide.

"Correction," Hamilton muttered. "Make _all_ of _Minerva_'s assets priority targets. This could be a very long war, if we allow the likes of them to survive long enough to become experienced…"

Being a survivor of Second Jachin, he knew all too well the dangers of experienced Coordinator pilots.

* * *

Despite the best efforts of Sato's renegades, everything was finally coming together. Guarded by Yzak and Dearka, the surviving GuAIZ Rs –of which there were painfully few- finished emplacing their meteor breakers, and stepped back as the massive drills went into operation.

The drills spun up to speed, and began driving themselves deep into the structure of Junius Seven… and when they reached the target depth, the demolition charges built into them were automatically triggered, setting off a massive, simultaneous blast through the underlying structure of the wreckage.

Cheers erupted from the surviving GuAIZ R pilots, and Dearka grinned. "We got it, Yzak! Junius Seven is breaking up!"

As he spoke, the massive piece from Junius Seven's "southern" landmass fractured… and split in half, breaking apart at the center until one half was floating free from the other.

"It's not good enough," Kira said worriedly, his ZAKU joining them; the small gashes and melted patches in his armor showed he'd fought hard to reach them. "Half of it is achieving a stable orbit, but the other half is still accelerating."

"I can see that," Yzak admitted, glowering. "Well, we'll just have to finish this ourselves; I won't involve my other pilots any further. They'd just get slaughtered in those obsolete machines." He glanced at the green ZAKU. "Any chance Falcon could use that satellite cannon of his on it?"

Kira shook his head. "It looks like he got rid of it in Preybird's refit, sorry; I guess he figures he doesn't need it anymore, with GENESIS gone. And besides… last I saw, he was busy fighting what looked like an Earth Forces copy of Preybird."

Dearka swore. "That's just what we need, another Preybird… Well, then we'll just have to do without, right, Yzak?"

"Yeah." Yzak turned his Phantom toward another chunk of debris, where another meteor breaker waited; it had been assigned to one of the GuAIZ Rs, but the machine in question hadn't made it. "All right, then. Kira, we could use some help moving that thing."

"Roger that," Kira agreed, boosting over to them.

"But don't get the idea that I like working with civilians, got it?" the silver-haired pilot said sharply. "This is just an emergency situation, that's all."

Kira chuckled. "Same old Yzak…"

The trio of machines quickly rendezvoused at the meteor breaker, and together began moving the device toward the falling half of debris. What would've been difficult work for one or two ZAKUs was much easier with two ZAKU Warriors and a Phantom, and they made swift progress toward their target.

Then a hurricane of energy fire swirled toward them.

The three released their hold on the meteor breaker at once, scattering to face the new threat. "More of Sato's renegades," Kira said grimly, catching sight of the half-dozen GINNs heading their way, rifles blazing. "I already had to destroy several of them to get here. Why do they have to throw their lives away like this…?"

"This is no time to be sentimental, Kira," Dearka warned, bringing up his cannon. "We can't let them get very far, and you're not in Freedom."

"I know," Kira acknowledged. "Like I said, I already destroyed some on the way to reach you two." He glanced at his companions. "Well, then… let's finish it." He wasn't enthused at having to kill again, but that was one lesson Ken DiFalco had taught him that he had no intention of forgetting.

Painful though it was, sometimes it really _was_ kill or be killed… and against fanatics like Sato's renegades, normal measures were inadequate.

Therefore, Kira and Yzak were the first to rush forward, Yzak swinging his axe, Kira taking careful aim with his beam rifle. Dearka remained behind them, preparing to engage in support fire from a distance, as he'd done with his old Buster.

"Two Warriors and a Phantom," one of the renegades remarked to his fellows. "Even with Joule piloting one of them, we shouldn't have any-"

An emerald dart from Kira's rifle smashed into the GINN's cockpit, tearing through its control systems –and pilot- with the same cold precision of Kira's usual disarming tactics.

Two more pilots blanched, seeing their comrade defeated so easily, and opened fire on the oncoming mobile suits, but Kira and Yzak simply split to either side, slipping randomly to all sides to avoid the green fire coming their way. Then one of the GINNs flew backwards, disintegrating under the raw energy release of a bolt from Dearka's cannon… and the other found itself face to face with Yzak's Phantom. The renegade recoiled in his cockpit, desperately trying to bring his rifle to bear.

Yzak didn't allow him the time. With a snarl of incoherent anger, he raised his axe, and brought it down in a vicious chop, connecting with the GINN's head and ripping a path through circuits, control systems, and power couplings all the way down to its legs.

Bisected, the GINN HM II drifted for a few seconds, its separated halves smoking, and then it, too, blew apart in a shower of bite-sized metal fragments.

The remaining three went to rapid, nearly continuous fire with their rifles, risking total burnout of the rifles' components in a desperate attempt to destroy the trio of ZAKUs. Veterans all, none of them had expected something like _this,_ and their shared thought was to obliterate the ZAFT machines before they could do any more harm.

Unfortunately for them, they didn't count on the raw skill of former Le Creuset team pilots… or recall the formidable reputation of Kira Yamato, widely known to be the best pilot of the War.

Slashing across space toward the three GINNs, Kira abandoned his rifle, choosing instead to pull the beam axe out of his shield, while simultaneously using the shield to spatter a veritable sheet of emerald fire. _I won't let them succeed,_ he thought to himself. _No matter what… they're not going to destroy the Earth!_

Teeth clenched, he raced toward the enemy, and then he was among them, his axe swinging with deadly precision. The first he came to received three slashes before the pilot could even react, the fiery blade first through each shoulder, then going for a low slash that took off both legs in a single motion, leaving only sparking stumps behind… and then the axe came back, burying itself in the GINN's chest.

Kira tore it out just as the machine vomited flame and tore itself apart.

The second machine was just preparing to shoot Kira in the back when another bolt of synthetic fire came at it from its left, catching it in the left "wing" and punching clear through to the other side, tearing off both vernier pods and leaving it dead in space.

Literally.

"Just one left," Kira said, voice flat. "That's all we need to-"

He was interrupted by a hail of energy fire, taking the form of emerald streaks of several calibers, and two bolts of red-orange fire. Kira and Yzak scattered, interposing their shields; the remaining renegade was not so fortunate. He was punctured by a dozen separate beams before he could react, and with a moment's scream, he and his mobile suit were wiped from the face of universe in a ball of flame.

"The stolen prototypes!" Yzak hissed, seeing the trio of Second-Stage units approaching… accompanied by Hamilton's mysterious unit; he'd managed to break away from Rey, and had linked up with his fellows.

"Them again! I'd wondered where they were…"

"We have to finish them before they can destroy the remaining section of Junius Seven," Hamilton warned his fellows. "No more restraint; they've done enough."

"Concur," Neo remarked, as Preybird and Nightwing burst into the area, exchanging DRAGOON fire and slashes. "I've got Preybird in hand; you four finish those three… and Crescent, if you can figure out where that witch went in the first place."

"Understood," Auel acknowledged. "Let's do it."

Eyes narrow, Ken took in the tactical situation… and released one of his beam sabers for an instant, freeing up one hand to snatch out his Gerbera. "Kira, catch!" he called, and tossed the weapon over to his friend's ZAKU.

Nodding in understanding, Kira caught the blade in one hand, then brought up the other to grip it as well. "Thanks, Ken. You be careful with that guy, though."

"Always am." Ken retrieved his other saber, and raised both blades just in time to swat aside a barrage of emerald fire from Nightwing's DRAGOON system.

Yzak smirked, seeing the deflected energy rip a renegade GINN HM apart before it could engage his GuAIZ Rs, then glared again at the stolen prototypes. "You know, I'm really getting tired of these guys," he hissed. "Dearka, Kira, let's take them!"

"You got it, Yzak," Dearka replied with a smile, and snapped up his cannon.

Shinn, Rey, and Luna, having been distracted from chasing Hamilton several minutes earlier by a trio of GINNs, now caught up with him… and Shinn, for one, found himself distracted by the new confrontation.

"What's going on here?" he wondered, almost to himself.

Stellar Loussier was wondering the same thing, as the ZAKU's cannon swiveled to aim at her. "What do you think you can accomplish?" she demanded, rushing toward it with saber live and back-mounted beam cannons firing. "You can't hit me! You're not fast enough!" Seemingly proving her point, she slipped to the right just as Dearka fired his first shot, the powerful bolt of manmade destructive force instead blasting a chunk of rock to powder.

Dearka merely smiled humorlessly… and snapped his weapon back on target faster than Stellar thought he was even capable of, then triggered another shot.

Stellar cried out in shock and anger, feeling her machine shudder under the blow. The red-orange firebolt struck at the precise point on Gaia's left arm that Shinn had earlier hit; now the raw energy release smashed the outer armor to splinters, melted mercilessly through control circuits, hydraulics, and power conduits, and then blasted the entire arm clean off. "How _dare _you?!"

As Gaia spun away, its pilot trying frantically to regain control, Neo shook his head. "Your friends out there are good," he admitted, catching a doubled-slash from Preybird on his twin blades. "A bit better than I'd expected, really…"

"They trained in a hard school," Ken told him, eye blazing. "We all did… which is why I'm going to stop you, right here and now." His fists clenched on his controls, as he maneuvered his DRAGOON system in to form a loose sphere around Nightwing. "And it's how I'm going to make sure you don't interfere here. No one uses my birthplace as a weapon, and you're not getting in my way!"

"Bold words," the masked captain acknowledged, weaving a deadly dance through the web of lasers from Ken's DRAGOON emitters. "Maybe even justified," he added, catching a dozen closely-packed beams on his left light-wave barrier, while batting two more aside with his right-hand saber. "Your exploits in the War are certainly legendary… but I have to wonder if you're just being overconfident. I came off the victor in our last encounter, if you'll recall."

"I call it a draw," Ken retorted, crossing his arms and igniting his beam shields to diffuse and nullify another barrage from Nightwing's DRAGOON system. "Either way, I'll admit I've fallen prey to overconfidence before… but I've never lost a battle that was this critical to me, and I'm not about to lose this one, either."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Neo mused, deactivating his sabers. "Because, Demon Lord, I cannot allow you to survive and interfere with our plans any longer. I have my orders… and you've been a thorn in our side for too long."

Watching as Nightwing pulled out its rifles, Ken shook his head with a faint smile. "Yeah, I tend to get that reaction from people… Being a thorn in the side of my enemies is something of a habit of mine." Shutting down his own blades, he pulled the maser rifle from behind his back. "I also have a habit of removing threats to my people with extreme prejudice."

Even as the pair of them faced off, Sting and Auel concentrated their attention on the other defending units. "Stellar's out of the fight, Sting," Auel warned. "We have to finish this quick, before they can do any more damage."

"Think I don't know that?" Grimacing, Sting glared at the ZAFT units. "That green one… he's mine!" Snapping up his rifle, he simultaneously charged his Callidus cannon, preparing to utterly obliterate the green ZAKU. "He'll pay for destroying my gunbarrels!"

Kira saw Chaos' movement, and his eyes narrowed. _I don't think so._ With an abrupt increase in thruster power, he charged straight at the stolen machine, startling Sting; as a result, the Callidus went off early, scorching harmlessly to the ZAKU's left, while the better-aimed emerald dart from Chaos' rifle struck the beam deflection sword Kira now carried, ricocheting off into space.

Then Kira was in range, and he attacked, betting that Ken had remade the weapon in the original's image.

Seeing the ZAKU charge him with a mere physical sword, Sting was more irritated than anything else; that irritation soon turned to red-hot anger, though, as the Gerbera took a shot from his rifle at pointblank range, dropped slightly… and slashed upward, cleaving right through the weapon's barrel like a knife through butter, leaving only a sparking stump behind.

Then the anger turned to shock as Kira brought the blade back down in a diagonal slash, which caught Chaos' right forearm, triggered a flash of light along the blade… and, with a moment of terrible resistance, dug into Chaos through the VPS, tearing through armor and hydraulics alike, before ripping completely through.

Sting stared at the stump of Chaos' right arm in utter shock. "How did he _do_ that?! That was a physical strike!"

Watching as Chaos jetted backwards, out of reach –and out of the fight- Kira smiled tiredly. He'd just used the same trick Ken had pulled on him at Second Jachin, and once again, it had worked beautifully against an unsuspecting opponent.

Ken had discovered something when going over the plans of the Astray Gold Frame AMATU, two years before: phase-shift could damage phase-shift. Using that knowledge, he had ordered Tom Delaney –who had been the one to forge the weapon in the first place- to secretly add trans-phase armor to his Gerbera's blade. The trans-phase was less effective than standard phase-shift, but it had the advantage of activating only on contact… which meant there had been no betraying power signature before the moment Ken first struck Freedom with it.

That blade had been shattered by a positron beam from _Dominion,_ in the last hour of the battle, but Ken and Tom had forged another in the time since, and Kira had –correctly- guessed that the same feature was present on the new blade.

Caring little about Kira's unexpected tactic, Yzak was, at that moment, more concerned with the Abyss. As Hamilton appeared to be unsure of what to do next –as well as being forced to dodge the occasional potshot from Rey- the final Second-Stage unit was the only effective opposition left, and he was determined to fix that.

"Who _is_ this guy?" Auel wondered, opening fire with his fin-mounted triple cannons as the blue Phantom closed on him. "I can't hit him!" He launched another barrage, this time mixing the six emerald streaks with a massive bolt of fire from his Callidus, but it made no difference; the ZAKU rolled nimbly out of the path of the beams, as though the machine were an extension of the pilot's body, instead of a mere tool.

"Get out of my way!" Yzak snarled, not even flinching as another barrage came close to tearing his backpack off. "You're going _down!"_ He jerked from side to side, throwing off Abyss' targeting computer at every turn… and then he was there, right in front of Abyss, too close for Auel to fire his weapons without potentially destroying himself, as well.

That suited Yzak just fine… and in the instant he had to choose his method of attack, he smiled savagely as he remembered a favored tactic of a former enemy of his. _See how _you_ like it!_ he thought, twirling his axe… and he swept it out in a vicious, scythe-like strike at Abyss' legs.

Auel cried out in surprise, as the powerful melee weapon bit into his machine's knees, struggled against the armor, and eviscerated the connection. With a muted thump that shook the entire unit, the legs blasted free, traveling a short distance from the machine before exploding in a shower of sparks.

Watching from afar, Shinn and Luna were more than a little impressed by the display. "Wow," Luna whispered, eyes wide. "Look at it, Shinn! Did you see what those guys did? They just defeated… no, they just trounced the guys who stole the prototypes!"

"Yeah," Shinn concurred, voice quieter but no less impressed. "I had so much trouble with them in Impulse, but those three used mass-produced units to take them out like they were nothing…"

Whatever his problems with Orb, even Shinn Asuka had to admire the skill of ZGMF-X10A Freedom's pilot… even as he feared it.

A burst of radiation two hundred meters to their left brought their attention to what seemed to be the only remaining fighting in the area, as Preybird and Nightwing exchanged shots. They were both using ranged weapons now, with Preybird appearing to hold something of an advantage; Nightwing kept having to activate its light-wave barriers to avoid being immolated by Preybird's scattergun.

To Shinn's surprise, Ken ad not inflicted any major damage on his opponent at all; there were a number of grazes on Nightwing's limbs, but there were easily as many on Preybird, as well. Whoever was in the cockpit of the enemy machine, he was good.

Even as Shinn watched, though, it appeared that the two combatants had come to a decision. As though by mutual agreement, they recalled their DRAGOON systems… and opened up simultaneously with their respective rifles.

Nightwing's twin rifles spat a pair of emerald darts, one creasing Preybird's torso and melting a gash just to the left of the cockpit; the other smashed into Preybird's right rail cannon, ripping and melting off the first two joints, leaving only a stump behind.

This time, though, it was Ken who came off better. His maser burst collided with Nightwing's rifles, tearing apart the barrels of both with its terrible heat, leaving nothing more than sparking grips… and at the burst didn't stop there. Its raw spikes of radiation slammed into Nightwing's shoulders and hips, as well, melting away both rail cannons and beam boomerangs in an instant.

A fluke of thermodynamics had saved Nightwing's main structure… but Neo wasn't the sort to take chances, especially after what had already happened to his subordinates. "Hamilton," he radioed, snapping up his light-wave barriers to shield himself from any further attack by Preybird, "we're retreating. There's no point in continuing the engagement any longer."

"Concur," Hamilton acknowledged. "Besides, I think I've collected enough data; when we return to base, I'll be departing to complete Project Zeta." He smiled. "If nothing else, today's battle was most informative."

"True." Neo switched frequencies. "Ian, do you copy? We're departing the area in under five minutes. Send out signal flares; with Junius Seven falling apart, and three of our units disabled, it's time we retreated."

"_Understood, Sir,"_ Lee acknowledged. _"Sending out flares and preparing to withdraw immediately."_

"Running away?" Ken remarked, still training his maser rifle on the clone of his machine. "What a shame…"

"Discretion is the better part of valor, Demon Lord," Neo told him, reversing thrust. "We'll finish this another day… and I trust you'll remember not to take me lightly. You're not the only skilled pilot out there, you know."

Nightwing spun around, kicked in its thrusters, and blazed away.

"Yeah," Ken murmured, "I'll remember. Don't worry about that… I never forget anyone as skilled as you… especially someone who fights just like I do…"

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"Bogey One has fired signal flares, Captain," Heim reported. "They appear to be withdrawing from the battle area now."

"Did they believe our message?" Trine wondered. "Is that why they're retreating?"

Talia shook her head. "Unlikely. You saw how hard they fought, particularly that Preybird copy; they may well have believed us, but they didn't really care about that. More likely, they retreated because of the damage to their units… and because they didn't want to get caught in Earth's gravity." He glanced over at Meyrin. "Status of our machines, Meyrin?"

"The Joule team has already retreated to their ships; and Luna and Rey are now returning," Meyrin replied, checking her displays. "They're low on power… Shinn and Commander Yamato are still out there, though, and I can't find Commander Crescent at all."

The captain closed her eyes. "Probably chasing that Sato fellow… All right. Ask Shinn and Commander Yamato to locate her, and make it quick; we don't have much time before we begin reentry ourselves, and by that time we won't be able to recover mobile suits."

To the rear, Cagalli's eyes widened. "Captain… what happens if they don't come back in time…?" _Kira…_

"It wouldn't be catastrophic, Lady Cagalli," Talia assured her. "The Impulse is rated to perform independent atmospheric reentry, and I believe the ZAKU is, as well. For that matter, Strike Noir is capable of it, as well. They'll be just fine, I think… I'd just rather everyone be aboard before we start shooting."

"I see…" _Well,_ Cagalli told herself, _both Kira and Ken have been through this before… if anyone can figure it out, they can._

_Still… next time, I _will_ be out there with them._

"Shinn and the Commander acknowledge, Captain," Meyrin reported. "Also, we have an incoming transmission from _Odin."_

Talia nodded. "Put it through."

Chance's face appeared on the display. _"Glad to see you're intact, Captain,"_ he said without preamble. _"May I ask what your intentions are?"_

"We're going to take _Minerva_ down into the atmosphere," she replied. "Junius Seven still has too much combined mass, so we're going to open fire on it ourselves, try and break it up into smaller pieces while we still have time."

The Section Nine officer nodded. _"Not a bad idea, Captain Gladys. As it happens, though, you won't have to go at this alone; we're heading down, as well. Our firepower is a bit more limited, but we do have a positron cannon of our own… and we need to head down anyway, to recover the Major, and make good our own damage, in Orb. Not to mention give the government a report on this whole mess."_

"I think I can help you with that," Cagalli put in, leaning forward. "I don't know if Unato will listen, of course, but maybe between you guys and I…"

"_Yeah. There's always that."_ Chance appeared less than confident about that, but Talia, knowing a little about the Orb political situation, wasn't exactly surprised. _"At any rate, Captain Gladys, we'll see you on planet. Good luck."_

"The same to you, Captain Chance." As the connection cut, Talia leaned back. _And now… all I can do is leave it up to others._

Sometimes, she really did hate the burden of command.

* * *

Debris Belt, Junius Seven Ruins

* * *

"It's over, Sato," Millenia said harshly, clashing blades with the last renegade GINN. "Haven't you figured out yet that there's no more point to this? You've already failed! All that remains if you keep this up is your own death!"

"I accepted that already," Sato retorted, shoving her away. "No matter what happens, I know I'm not surviving this… and I don't care! At least this way, I'll be with my family again!" Shifting his blade to his left hand, he lifted his rifle with his right, and fired off a shot at the Strike Noir.

Millenia cursed, failing to deflect the emerald bolt before it could take a small bite out her machine's left arm; the small gash was anything but critical, though, and she charged forward, closing the distance again. "Then what's the point of this? Are you trying to just take me down with you?"

He dodged to his left as Strike Noir's linear guns spat hypervelocity slugs at him. "It's a start," he acknowledged. "At least this way, I bring one of the traitors down with me. It's people like you that wrecked Patrick Zala's noble goal; _you're_ the ones who abandoned the only way for the PLANTs to thrive! _You abandoned our chance for vengeance against the Naturals!"_

This time, when his rifle spat fire toward her, she managed to swat the bolt aside with her blade, and kept on coming. "Vengeance would've gotten us nowhere!" she snapped. "GENESIS would've accomplished nothing but pointless genocide; it wouldn't have brought back any of the victims of murdered Junius, and it wouldn't have solved anything!" She paused, flinging her machine to one side as Sato fired once more. "Well, I suppose it might've solved our birthrate problem, but killing off the entire human race is _not_ how I'd care to go about that."

"I'm sure," Sato sneered. "But then, we both know your _real_ motive in stopping Junius Seven, don't we?"

"Laura Elsman was my best friend," Millenia acknowledged. "It's true that I wouldn't want to see her efforts wasted like this-"

"No," he interrupted, smiling cruelly. "I meant because of DiFalco. Or did you think you kept _everyone_ in the dark about that?"

Her eyes widened. _He can't possibly know…!_

"You had probably everyone else fooled," Sato continued. "But I always suspected how things _really_ were between you two. In fact-"

Before he could finish the sentence, Strike Noir's hands came up, released the beam swords, and fired off the rocket anchors in their palms.

It was Sato's turn to be startled. Not having realized the stolen machine had any such capability, he couldn't react before the rocket anchors plunged into his GINN's torso, forcing it back into a chunk of rock; before he knew what was happening, they'd plunged clear through his machine, pinning it to the debris. "What the-?!"

"It ends right here and now, Sato," Millenia whispered, releasing the lines of the anchors and retrieving her blades. "You're right, there _was_ more going on… and that's why I'm going to kill you. For his sake, and for the sake of the one he lost."

"So now… _you're_ engaging in vengeance?" Sato sneered. "You're nothing but a hypocrite, Black Widow."

"Hardly." She smiled thinly. "You see, there's the small matter that there isn't anyone left alive who would bother avenging a piece of scum like _you._ So… goodbye!"

Rushing forward, Millenia drove both of her fiery blades into the GINN's chest, their blazing edges melting through the armor like it was cheese, and then triggered her linear guns at pointblank range.

The combination of fire smashed Sato's machine to battered wreckage… and then blew it apart in a most satisfying fireball.

_Now only Ken and I know as it should have always been…_ Millenia thought surveying her handiwork

"Commander Crescent!" Shinn called. "Are you all right?"

Millenia turned, and only then did she realize she'd had a small audience for the last moments of the encounter. "I'm fine, Shinn," she replied… but her gaze was on Preybird, hovering behind Impulse and Kira's ZAKU. "The explosion was all him, not me. What about the meteor breakers?"

"They were emplaced properly," he replied. "But it wasn't enough; half of Junius Seven is still descending."

"It's out of our hands now," Kira interjected, before she could respond. "The Joule team has already withdrawn; it's too late for mobile suits to affect the outcome. I think _Minerva_ is going to try and stop it with heavy weapons' fire."

Millenia nodded slowly. "Makes sense," she murmured. "I suppose, though, that it's too late for us to return to the ship?"

Shinn grimaced. "I'm afraid so, Commander. We're beyond the point of no return now."

She sighed. "Then it's time to see how well we can survive reentry in these machines." She glanced over at Preybird again. "Falcon?"

"We'll make it," Ken said, voice distant. "Reentry techniques have improved since I rode GAT-X107 Raptor down into Earth's atmosphere…" Preybird turned away then, and spread its wings. "You three had better get into position; I'll see you on the ground."

Without waiting for a reply, he fed power into his thrusters, and began a shallow dive into the atmosphere. _Strange,_ he thought, watching as Junius Seven's remains began to glow with the heat of reentry. _I mourned so deeply when Junius Seven fell to the Bloody Valentine… but now that it's falling for the last time, I feel nothing at all. Have I managed to move on, then? From the closed-off automaton I was back then… have my wounds finally healed?_

Perhaps they had, at that. Perhaps finally… the Falcon could return to the battlefield with a heart free from guilt and grief… one unsullied by the issues that had plagued him throughout the latter half of the Bloody Valentine War.

_In that case… all I have to do is finish the mission I've set for myself… and find out why that pilot flies like I do._

_But in the meantime… I may as well enjoy the flight._

Relaxing in the cockpit for perhaps the first time in years, Ken lazily banked Preybird to the left, adjusting his reentry angle. He would miss the freedom of space… but at least he would have the freedom of the sky, till he returned to his true home.

"I am a leaf on the wind," Ken murmured, thinking of what –and _who­-_ awaited him in Orb. "Watch how I soar…"

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

Reunions have taken place in the midst of a fierce battle in space, and remnants of the War have begun to surface, as warriors from the conflict have begun to return to the field of battle once again.

Now Junius Seven has finally begun its final fall, and those who began the new tragedy have fallen… but amidst it all, the architects of a new conflict begin their work…

If it was late –which is entirely possible- I attribute it to the chapter's sheer length; hopefully, the battles in it have made up for any delay. And, of course, my typical mysterious –and sometimes not-so-mysterious- plots and conspiracies.

Also, I realize I ordinarily would've done another chapter of A Call to Arms before getting into this, but I was too eager to get to the battle to wait for it, considering some of the things that went on. In retrospect, I'm not sure this one is up to my usual standards, but… Well, I'll let the readers be the judge here. So, let me know what you think of it. –Solid Shark


	7. Chapter 7: Sundering Earth

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

Also, all references to characters and events from the Equatorial Union Civil War are property of Ominae; for further information, see his story "Rebellion"

* * *

Earth, Atmosphere Above Pacific Ocean

* * *

ZGMF-X00A Preybird streaked across the sky like a meteor heading for earth. 

Inside its cockpit, Ken DiFalco could only watch the events still unfolding above him. He had done what he could; now the salvation of Earth and the destruction of the colony that had been his birthplace was up to a new generation of ZAFT pilots… pilots under the command of Millenia Crescent.

_I left that world behind a long time ago,_ he mused, guiding Preybird through the steep descent. _I've not been a soldier of ZAFT since Patrick and I went our separate ways, three years ago… now my duty is different, encompassing an even wider range of responsibilities than my position as Patrick's right-hand man. As the commander of Section Nine, my resources are too limited to handle a situation such as this… and protecting _Minerva_ is not my job, as it once might've been._

And, of course, Preybird could have no part in the continuing efforts to destroy the remains of Junius Seven. In the wake of Ken's changing responsibilities, the machine had been extensively refitted and streamlined, removing the powerful twin satellite cannon that had once been meant to take on entire fleets… and was the one weapon Preybird had ever had that could've contributed to the operation.

_Pity _Asmodeus_ couldn't arrive in time,_ he thought. _A barrage of nuclear warheads would've worked wonders… well, perhaps it's just as well. Junius Seven has been struck by enough nuclear weapons…_

Watching as the Earth grew to fill his entire field of view, though, Ken couldn't help but ponder the consequences of the day's actions. Even if _Minerva_ succeeded, the damage to Earth would be terrible… and he would be affected personally by his own decisions, when next he met with Unato Ema Seiran. Thus far, the man remained ignorant of Ken's true role in world affairs, but there was little doubt he would be furious that one of the chief architects of Orb's reconstruction had taken it upon himself to aid a ZAFT effort at all, let alone one so… high profile.

_To blazes with Seiran, though; I did what I had to do. The world, though…_ Ken closed his eye for a moment. _This is a heaven-sent opportunity for Logos… or maybe that's _hell-_sent. They'll almost certainly use this to manipulate the Earth Alliance –and the world- into a whole new war… the very war I've been trying to stave off._

Preybird flew onward, and Ken began preparing for a harangue from Orb's prime minister.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

The visual displays were beginning to be difficult to interpret, Talia Gladys reflected, as _Minerva_ sliced down into the atmosphere. Probably because of the raging heat of atmospheric reentry, which might've torn a lesser ship apart. 

If there'd been time, she probably would've been afraid. As it was…

"Turn sixty degrees to starboard," she ordered. "Chen, deploy and charge the Tannhauser, and prepare to fire at my command."

Malik Yardbirds obediently swept _Minerva_ into the turn, but Meyrin Hawke turned in her seat and spoke up before Chen could acknowledge his own instructions. "Captain," she warned, "I can't confirm the positions of Command Crescent, Shinn, or Commander Yamato; we've also lost all contact with Moebius One. I can't guarantee they won't be in the firing line, Ma'am."

Talia sighed. "I know, Meyrin, but we don't have much choice. There's no time to deploy more meteor breakers, so destroying the remaining section of Junius Seven falls to us, particularly with _Odin_ unable to intervene." She shook her head. "This operation is more important than any of our lives. Whatever happens, we _must_ stop Junius Seven."

"Agreed," Cagalli Yula Athha cut in, from the rear of the bridge. "Kira understands the risks, and he's too good a pilot to get caught that way anyway. And Ken… there's no way _he'd_ get destroyed by something like that."

Considering that he'd managed to survive a positron cannon blast and the subsequent calamitous destruction of GENESIS at Second Jachin, no one was inclined to dispute the assertion.

"Quite," was all Talia said on the matter. "Chen, do you have a targeting solution?"

"Yes, Ma'am," _Minerva_'s fire-control officer replied, gazing intently at his displays. "Positron banks fully charged; ready to fire on your command."

"Then do so."

At _Minerva_'s bow, the massive bore of the Tannhauser positron blaster cannon emerged from its resting place, and brilliant energy gathered at its muzzle. It glowed brightly for an instant… and then the terrible, red-orange fury of an antimatter bolt erupted from the Tannhauser, a rod of pure annihilation even more powerful than the Lohengrin cannons of an _Archangel_ or _Odin_-class.

An instant later, it smashed into the remaining half of Junius Seven's base plate with titanic fury.

* * *

_Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

"Looks like they're pulling out all the stops," Jason Chance mused, catching sight of the positron blast. "Firing like that when their own machines are still in the area…" 

"Calculated risk," Rau Le Creuset mused, imperturbable as ever. "The threat Junius Seven's wreckage poses to Earth outweighs any consideration for the pilots, and I rather suspect that even that hotheaded Asuka fellow knows it."

Gray-haired Tom Delaney stared pensively as a chunk of debris broke free of Junius Seven under the ferocious pounding of antimatter. "I hope the Boss wasn't anywhere near that," he mused, frowning. "I'm honestly not sure the new beam shields can stand up to that kind of thing. They put less of a strain on Preybird's systems than the light-wave barriers did, but sometimes I wonder if it was worth the tradeoff in durability."

"There are always tradeoffs," Rau reminded him, steepling his fingers. "And there are always unforeseeable situations…"

The bridge succumbed to silence, and the ex-madman was left to his own thoughts, as _Odin_ plunged into the atmosphere. _To think, two years ago I'd have been cheering at this turn of events, believing the destruction of mankind to be the only answer… Sophia cured me of that, but I still cannot forgive myself for everything I did under the influence of madness…_

The forward displays were beginning to show genuine fire now, as the ship entered the atmosphere at seventeen times the speed of sound. The flames produced by the atmospheric friction reminded Rau unpleasantly of his own name, and his reasons for choosing it…

_And now, after eighteen months in stasis, and six months living a hidden life in space, my isolation is about to end. The moment _Odin_ makes port, it will be impossible for even Falcon to keep my survival a secret. What happens then? I doubt Mu La Flaga will easily forgive me; and Kira Yamato's potential reaction hardly bears thinking on…_

Rau sighed. Sometimes, he wondered if it might've been better if Ken had simply let him stay dead…

* * *

Earth, Atmosphere Above Pacific Ocean

* * *

Shinn Asuka winced, backing Impulse away from Junius Seven as a chunk of it leapt free under the impetuous of the antimatter blast. "The Captain must be serious about this," he said, almost to himself. "Firing the Tannhauser like that…" 

"Under the circumstances, there's not much choice," Millenia Crescent observed, spreading Strike Noir's wings and mimicking Ken's earlier dive into the atmosphere. "The Tristans wouldn't do the job fast enough; only a positron cannon can inflict that much punishment in the time we have left."

"Yeah," Kira Yamato agreed; unlike Millenia, though, his voice was grim, not conversational. "Unfortunately, there's no time for us to get back to the ship… and I don't think this ZAKU was really meant for this kind of thing."

Both ZAFT pilots turned to look, and Millenia winced at the sight. So far, the ZAKU Warrior's structural integrity was holding… but the Wizard pack was not so lucky. The empty missile launchers were melting under the heat of reentry, and starting to come apart at the seams.

If the trend continued, she knew as well as Kira that the entire mobile suit could well be in danger of coming apart under the strain.

"I'm feeding more power to the cooling systems to compensate," Kira continued flatly. "This isn't my first independent reentry, and I _did_ learn a couple things from the last time. Still, while I think I can maintain cockpit integrity, I won't be in any shape to make a landing; my guess is that the limbs will start to fail within the next hundred and eighty seconds."

"Not a problem," Millenia assured him. "Assuming _we_ can manage to come through this in one piece, Shinn and I should be able to carry your weight between us." She glanced out her starboard displays, frowning. "Falcon could probably help, as well… except that he seems to have simply disappeared."

"He goes his own way," Freedom's pilot said with a shrug. "I can take care of myself, and so can he; he's got his own responsibilities."

"He usually does…"

The three machines continued to fall toward Earth, each assuming as close to an ideal entry vector as possible, and silence fell on their communications links… until Shinn glanced up, and inhaled sharply. "There it goes!"

His fellow pilots also looked up, just in time to see what appeared to be _Minerva_'s fourth positron blast strike the remains of Junius Seven.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, save for more blasted debris coming free. Within seconds, though, fissures began to appear in the structure of the base plate, glowing brightly, and beginning to widen… until they tore free under the force of a final positron bolt.

The last remains of Junius Seven had been torn asunder… and now they fell to Earth.

"Well," Millenia whispered, "it's done. Heaven help the cities in the path of those fragments… because no Earthly power can stop them now. We've done all we can…"

Kira watched the fragments fall, and in his mind he could see them plunge into the many cities doubtless in the paths of destruction. _What have they done?_ he thought sadly, closing his eyes. _They lost those they loved to the nuclear attack three years ago… so now they bring vengeance to the entire world. What were they hoping to accomplish?_

_And… what happens now?_

A new voice came onto the airwaves, and Kira realized his friend and mentor was still in radio range of them. "What hath man wrought?" Ken murmured, a peculiar note in his voice. "Sato and his fellows… they haven't failed. Not as completely as we had hoped."

Shinn heard the transmission, and tilted his head. "What do you mean, Sir?" he asked… though he was afraid he already knew the answer.

"History repeats," Ken replied. "The cycle begins anew, in the fires of destruction…" His face appeared on Impulse's display, and his expression was solemn. "We've blunted Sato's advance, Shinn, but his objective may yet be achieved. Not immediately, perhaps… but Earth will not forget this. The Earth Alliance has changed little from when I last fought them, unfortunately; those truly in control of them will see this as an opportunity to strike out at the PLANTs, by blaming them for this disaster."

"You're saying this will lead to another war," Millenia interjected quietly. It was a statement, not a question.

"I'm saying that it's a virtual certainty, yes," he agreed. "This is what vengeance leads to, Shinn. Never forget the consequences of acts of pure destruction." A shadow came into his one-eyed gaze. "I did, once… and it was very nearly the end of the world."

Shinn nodded slowly; but inwardly, his mind was in deep thought, not yet fully understanding the ex-ZAFT pilot's words. _He's trying to tell me something,_ he thought, _something important… I just need to figure out _what.

"So," Millenia said, after a moment of silence, "if war _does_ come again… where will _you_ be, Falcon? Where will you go? What will you do?"

Ken's visible eye closed. "What I've always done, Millenia," he replied quietly. "'I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body, and fire is my blood…'"

She twitched, recognizing the quote. "I'm assuming that means you'll be going back to the frontlines," she said softly.

"I have never abandoned the duty I took upon myself years ago," he replied obliquely. "My responsibilities have changed, as I have a more personal concern now… but I accepted Chairwoman Canaver's proposal two years ago knowing full well what it would mean."

Millenia sighed. "So you'll persist in fighting as you have since your desertion? I don't see how much good you can do, with your present resources…"

Behind his helmet, Ken DiFalco smiled faintly. "As Sato said, Millenia, I'm the Demon Lord… and I still have my Demons with me."

* * *

It was a sight that would never be forgotten by the people who lived through it. 

All across the world, the remaining fragments of Junius Seven plunged to earth, first merely as streaks of light in the sky… then spheres of brutal light that crashed with more kinetic energy than a nuclear bomb, falling as they were from orbit.

The Eurasian Federation was the first nation to be hit, as a chunk hurtled down toward Italy, on a collision course with history… both ancient, and that of its own making, as it crashed into the center of Vatican City, shattering it in an instant… and spreading its heat and shockwave to the rest of Rome. The Coliseum shattered from the pressure, then liquefied under the thermal bloom even before the shards could hit the ground.

It mattered little to the citizens of the great city. They were already dead.

A much smaller meteor struck some five hundred kilometers to the east, in Athens; the impact was not enough to remove the city from the map, but Junius Seven finally finished the job a Turkish gunpowder stash had begun centuries earlier, obliterating the Parthenon.

Eurasia was the first nation to suffer… but it was not the last, and the densely-populated China region of the Republic of East Asia lost millions in a heartbeat as one of the larger pieces of Junius Seven effectively vaporized Beijing. Communism had not been enough to destroy the heart of China, but several metric tons of once-orbital debris succeeded where Mao Zedong had failed.

Other continents were not spared the vengeance wrought by Sato's dead renegades. Australia came off lightly, due to a still-sparse inland population, but even the island continent suffered from tsunamis caused by ocean strikes. Africa received a particularly severe pummeling, the end result of which was quickly estimated to be a veritable sea in the middle of the Sahara; North and South America received strikes of their own, with additional devastation occurring on the coastlines.

Of Antarctica, little would be determined for some time; even seventy-three years into the Cosmic Era, the frozen continent was inhabited mostly by the penguins, who had little to say on the entire affair. Detailed reports would be a long time in coming from even the Emperors of Antarctica.

The scorching fury of Sato's rage engulfed the world in fire… and that fire was just a prelude to the violence it would lead to.

* * *

Orb Union, DiFalco Residence

* * *

Murrue Ramius stood on a balcony on the house's second floor, staring up at the twilight sky. From there, she could quite clearly see the falling stars, and knew as well her fiancé the sorrow they would undoubtedly bring. 

"It's begun," she whispered, her gaze searching the sky for a familiar speck. "What we all feared…"

"Yeah," another voice agreed. "I guess… it was inevitable. I just didn't expect it to be something like _this."_

Murrue turned her head, seeing Athrun Zala step up to join her. Like her, he wore civilian clothing these days; and, like her, something in his eyes spoke of the things he'd seen in the War, two years before.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Athrun," Murrue said quietly, returning her gaze to the sky. "I thought you'd be with Lacus."

Athrun shrugged. "She's with the orphans, calming them down with a song. They're nervous, not knowing what's going on… and I envy them that. You and I _do_ know what's going on, and frankly, it terrifies me."

"I know what you mean." The ex-ZAFT pilot's presence wasn't so surprising in light of that; Reverend Malchio's orphanage was on the same plot of land as the DiFalco home, all parties involved having decided the arrangement would help keep the war veterans sane while they recovered from the bitter psychological wounds.

Murrue also understood what Athrun meant about being terrified. They were both soldiers, so the fear wouldn't overcome them, but the knowledge of what this event was almost certain to lead to would frighten anyone with even a scrap of humanity remaining.

"Lacus is going to start moving the kids into the shelter soon," Athrun murmured, his own eyes turning to the sky. "I don't know how much damage those fragments are going to do, but it's a safe bet there's going to be tsunamis. Better to get them out of harm's way."

"Indeed," Murrue agreed, nodding. "I've a feeling it's going to be weeks before anyone can come up with proper estimates of property damage and human casualties. I'd be much surprised if there weren't at least a hundred million dead after today." Like Athrun, she already knew _what_ the falling stars were; as the fiancé of the leader of the Earth sphere's preeminent counterterrorist unit, she had sources of her own, up to and including Section Nine Headquarters itself.

Beside her, Athrun sighed. "A hundred million? I wish it were only that bad."

She glanced at him, and saw the deep sadness in his eyes. "You've heard something?"

He nodded. "On my way up here, I caught a news report. Obviously, the information is only preliminary; Junius Seven's fragments are still falling even now. But… well, they're already estimating a billion deaths from the impacts and tsunamis alone. Those who will die of neglect before anyone can reach them…"

Murrue closed her eyes in pain. "We all knew something was going to happen," she whispered. "Ken was right in insisting there would always be a new conflict. I just… never expected anything like _this_ to happen." She shook her head. "Maybe it was naïve of me, after the horror of Second Jachin, but I just never believed anyone could _do_ something like this."

"No one did," Athrun pointed out. "After all, not even my father ever attempted anything like _this._ He tried to use GENESIS, yes, but even he would've been horrified at the idea of dropping what was left of Junius Seven as a weapon. That place… it was probably the one thing he still considered sacred." He swallowed, remembering his final conversation with the man who'd been his father.

Patrick Zala had disowned him on the spot, and then as much as ordered Rau Le Creuset to kill him… and then, not more than an hour later, Zala himself had perished, when Lance Cooper rammed his ship into Jachin Due.

One thing Athrun had never told anyone, even Lacus, was that he had always felt he should've been the one to do the deed… that his father was _his_ responsibility…

"Well," Murrue mused, unaware of her companion's thoughts, "I suppose you're right. Still… I fear what this will lead to. Even beyond the long-term consequences, there's the political situation right here in Orb."

Athrun nodded. He and Lacus were frequent guests at Ken and Murrue's dinner table, so they knew quite well the sort of problems Ken –as the Major- had been having with the Orb government ever since the Seiran family became prominent. Section Nine had to fight beak and talon for the funding that the Junius Treaty was supposed to have guaranteed them… and it was well known by now that Unato Ema Seiran would like nothing better than to see the Major booted out of Orb for good.

Or, better yet, arrested and tried for whatever crimes Unato could pin on him.

"The only good side," Murrue went on softly, "is that it still isn't common knowledge that Ken is also the Major. It's tiring for him to play both roles, but it means we should be reasonably safe for now… though I imagine both his identities are going to be in for a tongue-lashing when he gets back. Unato will demand to know why the Major didn't intervene, and then harangue his chief architect for getting involved in something like this."

"Since it involved dealing favorably with ZAFT," Athrun agreed grimly. "Unato won't like that anyone connected to Orb was involved…" He sighed. "But that's only going to happen after the real damage has already been done."

Murrue couldn't argue with him on that one.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"Atmospheric reentry complete, Captain," Yardbirds announced, somewhat unnecessarily. "Currently at ten thousand meters and descending smoothly." 

Talia nodded, almost sagging back into her chair. "Thank you, Malik. Continue on course, for now; we can decide where to go from here once we've reached the ocean surface." _At least now we're out of the danger zone. I wasn't sure the repairs would hold up through that…_

Arthur Trine glanced over at her, expression grave. "Do you think Commander Crescent and the others survived that, Captain?" he asked quietly.

She sighed. "I honestly don't know. Our Tannhauser fire was pretty intense for a while, and widely dispersed. There's no way to guarantee no one was in the path… and even if they weren't, reentry is never kind to mobile suits. Commander Crescent's unit had minor damage to its armor even before reentry, as did Preybird; and Commander Yamato's ZAKU… well, it was never really intended for what we just went through."

"Are you saying Kira is dead, Captain?" Cagalli asked from behind her, keeping her voice as level as she could, despite her sudden fear.

Talia shook her head. "I'm saying that I don't know either way, My Lady. At this point, there's no way to know, really; until we pick up telemetry or some other sign of them, we're completely in the dark." She smiled slightly. "But don't give up just yet, Lady Cagalli. As you, I believe, have reason to know, the ZAKU is a sturdy mobile suit, and he was accompanied by two machines of ours that I'm reasonably confident would've survived. Not to mention Preybird, which you'd know better than I. Besides, my understanding is that Commander Yamato is both experienced at atmospheric reentry, and a superb pilot. Chances are good that he survived."

The younger woman nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right… Thank you, Captain." _She's right. Kira's the best pilot in the world, and Ken was out there to back him up, too._

_Besides, Kira knows I'd kill him if he let himself die out there…_

Talia, having delivered her reassurance, turned back to her crew. "Bart," she instructed, "keep checking for the heat signatures of those four machines. Let me know the moment we pick up any of them."

"Understood, Captain," Heim acknowledged.

"Captain?" Meyrin called. "We're receiving a signal from _Odin."_

"About time they got back in touch," Talia murmured. "Thank you, Meyrin. Put it through."

Chance's weary face appeared on the display a moment later. _"Glad to see you people made it down in one piece,"_ he greeted, fatigue showing in his voice. _"Given the pounding Bogey One gave you, I wasn't sure if your emergency repairs would hold up."_

"We weren't, either," Talia admitted. "But we made it nonetheless; thank you for the concern, Captain Chance." She paused. "It's obvious that _Odin_ also came down intact… but I don't suppose you have any idea what became of our respective mobile suits?"

The Section Nine officer shook his head. _"We're receiving telemetry from Preybird, but that's it,"_ he said apologetically. _"From what we could tell, the Major was still in radio contact with your units, but Preybird seemed to have drifted away from them during reentry. If I had to guess, the machine was simply able to descend more efficiently… though he also probably got an early start, as well."_ He shrugged. _"We'll let you know if we pick up anything, Captain Gladys. In the meantime, I'd suggest we make rendezvous at sea level; operating in tandem is likely a wise move."_

She nodded. "Agreed. And thank you, Captain Chance."

"_Just doing my job,"_ the ex-Earth Alliance lieutenant said sardonically, and signed off.

* * *

Earth, Atmosphere Above Pacific Ocean

* * *

"Looks like we're down to just the smallest fragments now," Millenia observed. "Watch out; they'll be harder to see and evade than the larger pieces." 

Kira nodded. "I know… but I think I've got bigger worries, anyway."

He wasn't kidding. His ZAKU was now being supported only by Impulse and Strike Noir, its own thrusters having failed; without their aid, he would've plunged into the ocean, most likely never to be seen again.

That also, unfortunately, made them more vulnerable to the remaining fragments of Junius Seven. With two machines encumbered by the entire weight of a third, maneuvering out of the path of danger would not be easy.

Shinn, for one, was mildly irked that his hero's Preybird –now having rejoined them- had simply spread its wings, and generated an umbrella of energy from beam shield emitters located above the DRAGOON units, rendering itself effectively immune to the potential threat.

"We need to make rendezvous with _Minerva_ as soon as possible," Millenia mused, adjusting her course slightly. "Shinn and I are running low on power, and it's only going to get worse, what with holding up this ZAKU…"

"Concur," Ken said calmly, eyes scanning the horizon. "I also need to return to base; my damage from Nightwing seems to be superficial, but I'd rather have Tom look at it just to be sure. I've already flown two mobile suits to pieces as it is."

"That's generally a bad thing, yes," she agreed. "Bad enough to have it happen in space, but at eight thousand meters above the surf-"

A solid _crash_ interrupted the ZAFT pilot, and alarms blared in her cockpit… just before part of her instrument panel blew up, sending shrapnel tearing through her right sleeve and into the arm beneath it.

The fragment's impact jarred Strike Noir, and the subsequent explosion threw off Millenia's piloting to the extent that she nearly lost her grip on Kira's ZAKU, and managed to tug all three machines off course in a sudden jerk that almost tossed all three away from each other, as their delicate balance was disturbed.

"Commander!" Shinn called, struggling with his own controls. "What just happened? Are you-?"

Millenia cursed vilely. "I'll be alright," she answered, pressing one hand to the wound in her arm and trying to stabilize Strike Noir with the other. "Just give me a second to regain control…"

The struggle became easier a moment later, as another machine took hold of Kira's ZAKU, lightening the load for the other two. "Playing mobile suit taxi is a somewhat ignoble role for Preybird," Ken said dryly, "but I suppose I've committed worse acts with it. Millenia, Kira, you two okay?"

"Just a little shaken up," Kira replied, opening his visor to wipe sweat off his forehead. "I'm just a passenger right now, remember? You guys drop me, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"Then we'll just have to make sure nobody sneezes," Millenia quipped, finally stabilizing her descent path. "I'm alright as well, Falcon; it'll keep till we get back to _Minerva."_ She glanced at her power gauge. "That'd better be soon, though; you might be nuclear-powered, but the rest of us are gonna be running on fumes in a couple minutes here."

Ken rolled his eye. "Oh, for the days when most of the machines I flew with were nuclear-powered… Drat the Junius Treaty, anyway."

Certain provisions of the Treaty had his wholehearted approval. Others had only been included over his own, strong protests. _Like the limitation on military forces, proportional to a nation's size. That was blatantly anti-PLANT… and all too much like Versailles. Well, at least they didn't ban ZAFT from having mobile suit forces entirely…_

"Picking up thermal signatures," Shinn announced suddenly. "Consistent with _Odin_ and _Minerva_."

Millenia nodded wearily, leaning back in her seat. "Good," she said quietly. "It's been… a long day. And tomorrow, I suspect, is going to be even longer."

"Tell me about it," Kira said with a sigh, as the four machines turned toward their respective motherships. "Cagalli's going to be working overtime for a month, just trying to keep up with Prime Minister Seiran's ranting…"

"She's not the only one," Ken informed him. "Before the week is out, Kira, you're going to be glad you're just a bodyguard… and one with only one identity, at that. I'm going to have to be in about three places at once…"

"Trying to figure out what's going to happen next?" Shinn questioned.

The ace nodded. "That's part of it, yeah. First I'll be harangued by the Prime Minister for getting involved –as myself- and then I'll be ranted at for _not_ getting Section Nine involved… and, finally, I'll need to put my head together with my planning people and try to read the minds of the Earth Alliance leaders."

Shinn thought about that for a few moments, and then voiced the general sentiment of the day. "It's going to be a long day…"

* * *

Lagrange Point 1, _Dominion,_ Bridge

* * *

Rear Admiral Sierra Novak rubbed her forehead, thought about a tenth cup of coffee, and finally sagged into her chair with a sigh. _What a day,_ she thought tiredly. _First I hear about an attempted colony drop, then I get orders not to even _try_ and stop it –because of some propaganda ploy or other- and I have to watch Phantom Pain create even more confusion than they usually do… and now, while I prepare to triumphantly enter Orb –sometime soon, like the next five months; typical rear-echelon definition of soon- that Hamilton kid is flitting all over the fleet, trying to be everywhere at once and bugging every admiral he runs into…_

Intellectually, Novak understood the importance of Project Zeta. The mere existence of ZGMF-X00A Preybird was enough of a reason to develop newer, more capable mobile weapons; the open secret of Orb's own use of a nuclear-powered machine only led credence to that.

Unfortunately, Allen C. Hamilton, for all that he was no Coordinator-hater, was also absolutely obsessed with his work… and with trying to make sure everyone he ran into met his standards of efficiency. Which meant, of course, that he irritated every single officer he met, at least mildly, with the possible exception of the few members of the Badgiruel family that hadn't vanished subsequent to _Archangel_'s treason during the War.

_I suppose that's the breaks in this business,_ Novak thought with another sigh. _At least he _does_ know you can't push an admiral very far before she decides it's time for you to be transferred to the dark side of the Moon or something…_

The Admiral's tired musing were interrupted by _Dominion_'s comm officer, Lieutenant Ron Atkinson. "Excuse me, Admiral, but we're receiving another transmission from Arzachel. Vice Admiral Taggart wishes to speak with you."

Novak nodded, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. "Put him through to my screen, Lieutenant."

Rick Taggart appeared moments later on her right armrest screen, looking tired and harried. _"Sorry to bother you again so soon, Sierra,"_ he began, _"but there've been new developments in the last two hours."_

She tilted her head. "Developments, Rick? Somehow, I don't really like the sound of that."

"_You shouldn't,"_ he said bluntly. _"First off, it looks like Roanoke and his people did their job just a little too well; Lord Djibril and Admiral Sykes may be satisfied, but I, for one, think they've gone a bit far this time."_

Novak nodded. "I've heard some preliminary reports myself, and we've been monitoring the impacts as best we can from here."

"_So have we; and we've been in constant communication with Washington via the new quantum link."_ Taggart rubbed his eyes, clearly even more fatigued than Novak herself. _"We've lost Rome, part of Athens, Beijing, and Shanghai… and that's just for starters. A good chunk of the Sahara is already flooding, coastlines are being hit all over the place… Bottom line, Sierra, is that the situation down there is utter chaos. A billion dead so far…"_ He sighed. _"And, as if that weren't bad enough, we're receiving reports that the terrorists behind this incident also have several cells on planet. Right now, our people are having to fight off terrorist mobile suits on three continents. The only good news is also very perplexing: our primary Cuban base was nearly destroyed an hour ago… until what appears to have been a KIS by Section Nine wiped out the attackers."_

Both of Novak's eyebrows went up this time. "Section Nine used a kinetic interdiction strike to help _us?_ Are you sure they weren't trying to take advantage of the situation by attacking Cuba, and just missed?"

He shrugged. _"Doesn't look that way; that strike was too precise. My own guess is that Section Nine either really didn't like the colony drop, or they figure these ground-based attacks will hurt the image of all space colonists, especially the PLANTs. At any rate, though, that one incident is hardly enough to compensate for all that's going on. There are scattered and fragmentary reports of them intervening elsewhere, but they don't have the manpower to do much… and _nobody_ has the manpower to deal with all the kinetic impacts from Junius Seven."_ Taggart sighed. _"A lot of people are dying, Sierra, and quite frankly, Roanoke's actions didn't help. Of course, much as I'd like to, I can't really blame him, considering the orders he had."_

"Watch what you say, Rick," Novak warned. "You don't want to annoy certain people…"

He snorted. _"Sykes and Djibril aren't that stupid, Sierra. Much as they might like to, they know a purge would just deprive them of what few high-ranking agents they have in the military… and they also know that, as much as we may grouse, we'll follow orders. I'm just letting off some steam, that's all."_ Taggart's expression turned grim again. _"But truthfully, I didn't contact you just to complain about the situation on Earth. Admiral Sykes has instructed me to inform you that, according to Earth Alliance Intelligence, _they_ may try to take advantage of the situation."_

Novak's blood ran cold. "Them? Are you certain?"

Taggart raised his hands, palms up. _"Hey, I'm just Arzachel's commander; I leave this sort of thing to the spooks. According them, though, it's very likely them. There's definitely movement, and it isn't ZAFT or Section Nine. ZAFT, for all their faults, has shown little interest in offensive action, and Section Nine is only concerned with Orb, the Earth Alliance, and the PLANTs; they've no interest in anything beyond the Earth Sphere, so I doubt even the Major himself has thought about it any."_

The rear admiral sank even further back into her chair, rubbing her forehead. "A colony drop, terrorist activity on Earth, and the return of the Butcher Bird… you know, Rick, I just don't think they pay me enough for this."

"_They don't pay any of us enough,"_ Taggart agreed. _"At any rate, Sierra, I want you to keep on your guard. If _they_ decide to act, the Butcher Bird will be the _least_ of our worries."  
_

* * *

_Minerva,_ Hangar

* * *

Kira would've shut down his ZAKU's systems with a feeling of relief, save for the fact that there weren't really any systems _left_ to shut down. By the time Impulse and Strike Noir had brought his machine to _Minerva_'s hangar, it had been in shut poor shape that it practically shut itself down. 

_It's true what they say,_ he thought, unstrapping. _There really is nothing quite like the feeling when you realize you're still alive…_

Next to his machine, Shinn popped his own hatch, and carefully lowered himself to the deck. _Good grief,_ he thought wearily. _Do all elite pilots have to go through something like that? I feel like I need to sleep for a week…_ He would've asked Ken about it, but the ace had returned to _Odin_ for the time being, presumably to discuss the situation with his own people.

A few meters away, Kira finally got his wrecked ZAKU sorted out, forced the damaged hatch to open, and –since the machine's hatch was closer to ground level than usual, with the zipline destroyed- gently jumped to the deck. "That was a rough one," he said to no one in particular, and turned to the mechanics, now gathering to look over the returned machines. "Does anyone know where-"

"_Kira!"_

His head came around, and he started to smile… and then all he saw was blonde hair as Cagalli hurtled into him, almost knocking him off his feet. The moment _Minerva_ had picked up the signals from the three mobile suits and changed course to rendezvous, she'd headed straight for the hangar, and arrived just in time to nearly topple him.

"Uh, I'm glad to see you, too, Cagalli," Kira managed, returning the embrace with a smile. "But, uh, I'd rather you didn't knock me over. It'd be kinda sad to break my neck when I just got back from a battle."

"Oh, shut up," Cagalli replied, tightening her hold on him. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?! You could've been killed out there!"

"I seriously doubt the Commander here was in any real danger from those mobile suits, Lady Cagalli," Millenia observed, lowering herself easily to _Minerva_'s deck. "From what I saw, not even Sato's best were any match for him; certainly those idiots in the stolen Second-Stage units weren't. The _real_ problem came during atmospheric reentry, I think, and we seem to have handled that reasonably well…" She frowned, glancing back at her mobile suit. "Speaking of which, does anybody have any idea how something in my cockpit exploded? I realize I got hit by a debris fragment, but the VPS should've dispelled just about all the kinetic energy…"

Madd Aves, looking over the powered-down Strike Noir, slowly shook his head. "I'll have to take a more detailed look to be sure," he informed her, "but my first impression is that you got hit where a beam weapon had already breached your VPS. Must've caused a chain reaction…"

"…Which blew up half my instrument panel," Millenia finished with a sigh. "Figures… Good thing we're not going back into battle for a while, I guess."

"Yeah," Shinn agreed, glancing at the remains of Kira's ZAKU. "I don't think we'll have a full mobile suit complement next time, either," he added with a grimace.

Kira pulled away from Cagalli, and looked apologetically at Millenia. "Sorry about that, Commander."

The violet-haired woman shrugged it off. "Forget it, Commander Yamato. You helped us out a lot up there, and it wasn't your fault it wasn't meant for-"

A rumble cut her off, and all in the hangar stumbled as the entire ship shook for several moments. "What in the world was that?" Cagalli demanded, using Kira's shoulder to stabilize herself. "An attack? No. That was…"

"It was probably a shockwave," Rey Za Burrel noted, stepping into the hangar. "The first shockwave from the debris impacts. It must've traveled all the way around the world, and come full circle…"

Millenia cursed. "Blast Sato and vengeance," she hissed. "The consequences of his actions…"

As she muttered to herself, Shinn glanced over at her… and his eyes widened, seeing blood dripping from his superior's right forearm. "Commander, you're hurt!"

She glanced down at in surprise, then winced. _Shouldn't have forgot about that, Black Widow,_ she groused at herself. _Better take care of it fast…_ "Thanks," Millenia said aloud. "I'll go take care of that. We'll hold a debriefing after I patch myself up, understood?"

Without waiting for a reply, she headed off, causing Shinn to blink in confusion. "Shouldn't you be heading for the Infirmary…?"

"I said I'll take care of it myself," Millenia answered, not faltering. "It's nothing serious. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

She departed… and Shinn wasn't the only one bemused by the matter. "That's… weird," Kira murmured. "Really weird…"

Cagalli glanced up at him. "What do you mean?"

He twitched his shoulders. "It's probably nothing," he admitted, "but… Ken always used to do the same thing. Before he got around to admitting his heart was battery powered, he always took care of any injuries himself…"

* * *

_Odin,_ Hangar

* * *

Ken shifted Preybird's reactor to standby power levels, unplugged the cable leading from his chest to the instrument panel, and unsealed the pilot module with a sigh. "That's what I get for not flying for two years," he muttered, popping the outer hatch. "What a long bloody day…" 

Tom, Leanne, and Rau were waiting when he reached the deck, all of them looking nearly as tired as he was. "A bit hairy out there, eh, Boss?" Tom said wearily. "Looks like you took a few hits out there."

Ken shrugged, yanking off his helmet and unfastening the collar of his flightsuit. "A few," he admitted. "The old girl will need a bit of patching up; shame, since it was her first battle after the refit. No rush, though," he added quickly, seeing his subordinate and trusted friend's expression. "This isn't like the War, Tom; I doubt we'll be going back into battle for a couple months or more."

The engineer nodded. "Got it, Boss. It'll keep till we reach Orb HQ, then."

"Pity that we're in such an out of the way location, though," Rau remarked quietly. "You haven't heard the latest, Falcon."

"Do I even want to know?" the ace asked, gesturing for the trio to follow him back into the ship. "That colony drop was bad enough; what _else_ could've happened?"

"Sato's renegades weren't alone," Leanne answered, running a hand through her emerald hair as they stepped into a side corridor. "Seems they had cells on Earth, too. They attacked a couple of major population centers, and several Earth Alliance bases, starting around the time _Minerva_'s forces engaged Sato."

Ken closed his eye. "I should've known," he said tiredly. "More trouble… How bad?"

"Could be worse," Rau replied with a shrug. "Fighting is still going on as we speak, but I think it's starting to die down. As it is, in your absence I ended up authorizing a kinetic interdiction strike against a force attacking Cuba."

The ace nodded. "Good call. I have no love for the Earth Forces, but Sato's confederates are giving ZAFT an even worse name than it already had." He raised a hand, rubbing his eyepatch. "Whatever happened to the good old days, when all I had to worry about was Moebius mobile armors?"

"Those days ended right around the time you deserted," Rau said sympathetically. "As you well know. And, I imagine, the prospect of starting a family gives you added concerns these days."

"Tell me about it." They rounded a corner, heading for the nearest elevator, and Ken sighed. "I suppose the only good news is that even the Earth Alliance won't be able to move very fast on the heels of this. I've no doubt they'll declare war on the PLANTs as soon as they can, but that won't be till after they've cleaned up the mess down here."

His former nemesis nodded in agreement. "True enough. Given the sheer damage caused by Junius Seven, the resources required simply for search and rescue are going to be enormous. I estimate they won't be able to risk any offensive action till after the New Year. By that time…"

"By that time, we hope Durandal has some idea of how to fight off someone with ten times his fighting force, and that Unato Ema Seiran is no longer in a position to give us grief," Ken finished. "And, for that matter, hope that _we_ find something to do about that Roanoke fellow I ran into."

"Indeed." Rau's face was suddenly more serious. "There was something very wrong about that whole affair, Falcon. He wasn't quite up to the prowess you showed at Second Jachin, but then neither were you… and that machine of his couldn't have been a coincidence."

"He's right, Boss," Tom interjected. "Except for those plasma cannons and the paint job, that was an exact duplicate of Preybird. Can't say much about the gizzards without personally examining them, I'll admit, but the only way it could've kept up with the original Preybird that way is if it has the same synthetic muscle tissue and artificial nerve fibers. And that means…"

"A traitor in our midst," Ken agreed, shaking his head. "Something I never expected… Must be one of the new recruits, from after the organization was formed; if it were a member of the core group, he would've caused trouble back during the War."

"Yeah," Leanne mused. "Besides, we're too tightly knit for that. If one of the old gang were like that, we'd know." She frowned. "What I can't figure out is how this hypothetical traitor got the data out in the first place. I mean, even with the people we _know_ are clean, the security procedures with documents and data transmission…"

"Only one real possibility," Rau said slowly. "Not someone who joined _after_ Section Nine was formed… someone who joined _as_ it was being formed." He met Ken's gaze. "There was one time when it could've been done, Falcon. Chairwoman Canaver and Lady Rondo Mina Sahaku began careful recruitment before the Treaty was even ratified… and during part of that, Preybird _was_ out of your hands."

Ken swore under his breath, as realization struck. "Right, I forgot. I left it in Orb two years ago… back during the rebellion in the Equatorial Union. At any other time, I would've been keeping a close watch on her myself, but right then I was more concerned with giving the Earth Alliance a black eye…"

"Precisely," Rau concurred. "Likely an Earth Alliance agent got into Orb, with a cover good enough not even Sahaku suspected anything. Given the state of Preybird's repairs at the time, it probably would've been a simple enough matter to get hold of the technical data."

"I think he's on the right track, Boss," Tom said with a nod. "We've since deleted all the extra copies of Preybird's data, but there were several floating around back then."

The ace sighed again. "Well, I can't say I regret my participation in that fracas, since it gave the Earth Forces something to chew on, and got Kira's cousin Rick to sign up with us, but I don't think I like the consequences of that data leak."

"Nor do I," Rau informed him. "Not much that can be done about it until we find the culprit, unfortunately." He raised an eyebrow. "In the meantime… what are you going to do now, Falcon?"

Ken shrugged. "First of all, get out of this flightsuit and take a shower, and a nap. Then I'm off to _Minerva,_ to consult with Captain Gladys; I've a feeling we're going to end up escorting them to Orb for repairs." They reached the elevator about then, and he stepped in, stretching. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've had a very long day…"

* * *

_Minerva_, Upper Deck, October 8th, C.E. 73

* * *

The morning after the terrible calamity that devastated vast sections of the world, several of the crew and passengers of _Minerva_ came up onto the deck to view the new day dawning. For some, it was the first Earth dawn they'd ever seen… and they would never see a dawn such as had come before. 

As Kira and Cagalli followed Vino, Yolant, and Shinn out into the sunlight, they shared a saddened look. Shinn seemed preoccupied, while the two mechanics had eyes only for the ocean around them… but the two veterans saw the new dawn, and new how different it was. No longer was the sky the pure blue it had been before Junius Seven fell; now it was a collage of other shades, striking in its own right but far from the sky they'd known in childhood.

"Look at it," Vino said in awe, oblivious to the changed sky. "So this is what an ocean is really like? It's huge!" He turned to Yolant. "How do you find your way around a place like this without modern navigational equipment, anyway?"

As the two mechanics began to chatter about the vastness of the world, Cagalli shook her head. "Ken should've asked the same question," she said under her breath, "before he got us lost over the Indian Ocean. I guess people born in the colonies don't have quite the same sense of direction…"

Kira smiled. "Yeah…" His smile faded a moment later, as he contemplated the sky. "You know… I was going to apologize for insisting on going out there myself, but I don't think I will, after all. Seeing how things have changed, just since yesterday…"

She sighed. "Yeah. You were right to help out, Kira. I don't want to _think_ about what would've happened if you and the others hadn't gone out there. As it is…" Cagalli closed her eyes. "The damage could've been so much worse…"

"It was bad enough as it is," Shinn interjected venomously. "You think this was 'minimizing' the damage? Don't be an idiot." Before either she or Kira could make any kind of retort, he continued on in the same tone, crimson eyes flashing. "This wasn't some kind of natural disaster. This was an attack by Coordinators still bitter about the War, and their vengeance did a _lot_ of damage. Haven't you been listening to the reports? It's been less than a day, and they're already talking about the 'Sahara Sea'. Over a dozen cities were wiped off the map all over the world, with a billion dead. How do you think the people of Earth are going to feel about that, huh?"

Cagalli didn't even flinch this time, instead straightening her spine and looking the young pilot right in the eye. "I didn't say it didn't do a lot of damage, Asuka," she said coldly. "Believe me, in my position, I can't afford _not_ to understand the consequences of this. And it's true, I _do_ wonder if the Naturals will ever forgive the PLANTs after this, even though they weren't even involved. Still, have you forgotten what Sato was _trying_ to do? If he'd succeeded in dropping Junius Seven intact, it would've wiped out every living creature on Earth just as surely as GENESIS. The situation we have now may be bad, and may even lead to a war, but at least there's still people alive to _fight_ that war!"

Shinn blinked, taken slightly aback by the fire in her eyes, and steel in her voice. _An Athha, showing a genuine spine?_ he thought, actually surprised. _That's… weird…_

At last, his cold expression reasserted itself, and he turned away. "Maybe _you_ understand," he conceded. "But unless you're a lot different from your father, I don't see that you have any hope of convincing the rest of your sorry country to see things your way."

The pilot stalked back into the ship… and Cagalli simply sniffed. "Arrogant little…"

Kira squeezed her shoulder, smiling. "Looks like you're learning how to deal with him, huh?"

"It's easy," she asserted, turning to look at the ocean again. "I just have to remember how Yzak was, in the early days of the True ZAFT alliance with Orb. Somebody like him only respects you if you show a little backbone; let them get to you, and they'll just keep going at you."

He nodded, still smiling. "Makes sense… I wouldn't be _too_ hard on him, though. He may be a bit of an obnoxious brat, but Ken _did_ say he has potential. Coming from him, I'd call that a pretty good recommendation."

Cagalli shrugged, leaning her head against Kira's shoulder. "I'd like to think so… but then, Ken also personally trained Victor Tempest, and look how _that_ ended up…"

* * *

"_You've all made a decision I wish none of you had to make, and I can't tell you how proud I am… or how sad I am that any of you have to do this at all…"_

"We may end up facing each other on opposite sides, Falcon. I don't like that idea any more than you do, but it's one we both have to face…"

"_This blockade cannot be allowed to stand. The PLANTs are not yet completely self-sufficient; the shipments of supplies from Oceania _must_ come through. Fortunately, the Atlantic Federation mobile armors will be no match for our GINNs… and they have no idea we're coming. DiFalco, I'll be counting on you to make the most of that surprise for us…"_

"_Don't let our –my- sacrifice have been in vain…"_

"_You've gone too far, Patrick. Too far!"_

"_Well, Falcon? How does it feel, being the architect of mankind's end?"_

_The slate-gray CGUE hovered before Earth, its pilot watching helplessly as first a missile struck the hourglass-like colony orbiting the planet, engulfing it and a solitary GINN in nuclear fire… and then the vast mirror to his left brightened with a terrible light, emitting a tremendous red-orange beam at Earth itself…_

_As Earth was engulfed in the merciless gamma radiation attack from GENESIS, the CGUE pilot found himself in the cockpit of a different machine, one with a crimson fuselage, slate gray limbs, and ten black wings spread behind it. A katana was raised in the mobile suit's hands, warding off a machine designed like its twin, excepted colored black…_

_Then the two deployed remote weapons from the wings, drew back their blades, and charged…_

_Beside them, the PLANTs were snuffed out one by one, and Earth was consumed by fire…  
_

* * *

_Odin,_ Ken's Quarters

* * *

Ken jerked upright in his bunk, breathing rapidly, artificial heart beating at over twice its normal rate. "What… the bloody blazes… was _that?"_

Trying to slow his heart rate to something that wouldn't leave him in danger of a heart attack, Ken wiped sweat from his brow, and carefully swung his legs off the bunk. It didn't take him long to realize what he'd just gone through; it was the primary reason he had preferred to meditate instead of sleep, during the War.

This was the first time since Second Jachin, though, that one of his old nightmares had returned.

_I guess… it's a sign of how things have changed again,_ he thought, reflecting on the combination of old memories and nightmarish imagery. _The nightmares are back, just as is the war… and yet I do not fully understand…_

He hadn't really thought much about his Academy graduation in years. The commandant at the time, Roy Ames, had later died defending Ken himself, at the Bloody Valentine; several others from his class back then were dead, too, including several of his beloved Gray Demons. That was reason enough for him to avoid dwelling on the time.

Nor had he given much attention to recollections of his last pre-hostilities meeting with Lewis Halberton, despite the grim fate Lewis had predicted that day… which had come true during the Blockade, and the early battles of the War.

But the other events… Not a day went by in which Ken didn't think of the Bloody Valentine, and GENESIS was a mistake he was hardly likely to forget.

"The Bloody Valentine and GENESIS," Ken mused, standing. "Do I remember these now… because of the imminent renewal of hostilities? Or is it… because of _her?"_

Millenia Crescent… she was someone he'd been unable to forget in the last three years, despite his best efforts. Once his student, along with Victor Tempest, she had also been the best friend of Laura Elsman, Ken's first love, who'd perished in the Bloody Valentine.

And for a time, after the Bloody Valentine Tragedy had virtually destroyed the ace, ZAFT's "Black Widow" had been something far more…

Ken shook himself. This was no time to be thinking about the past; he'd put all that behind him after the Second Battle of Jachin Due. Now he had a different task… one which necessitated another trip to _Minerva,_ to consult with Captain Talia Gladys.

* * *

Earth, Atlantic Federation, Washington, Blue Cosmos Headquarters, Conference Room

* * *

Lord Djibril wore an expression that would've frightened a great many people, had they any idea of his existence, or his part in world affairs. 

He was smiling.

"As you can see, gentlemen," he said, setting a series of photographs on the table top, "we have all the evidence we need now. Even the PLANTs will have trouble refuting the data sent back to us by Roanoke and _Girty_ _Lue_."

The other members of the organization known as Logos leaned forward, eagerly examining the images. Taken by _Girty Lue_ and her attached mobile suits, they showed GINN High Maneuver Mark II mobile suits attaching flare motors to Junius Seven's remains, thus providing the initial impetus that had eventually dropped the colony on Earth.

"They'll point out that those models are no longer in use by ZAFT," Bruno Azrael noted, frowning. "They've almost completely retired the entire GINN line; they wouldn't be insane enough to use obsolete models for a mission like this."

"And," Jeffrey Sutherland put in, "there's the small matter that top of the line ZAFT machines were trying to _stop_ the older models. It's clear that, whatever other flaws the Coordinators in general have, a desire for genocide isn't among them."

Djibril sighed to himself. _Typical of the old men. Always slow on the uptake, and too frightened to really carry things through to the end…_ He shook his head. "Admiral Sykes?"

The Earth Forces officer nodded, fingering the luxuriant mustache he affected. "Of course, Lord Djibril. Gentlemen, I believe we discussed this before the operation even began. We have no reason to release the images of the subsequent battle at all, save perhaps for the few images of Roanoke's units engaging the GINNs. That eliminates the issue of _Minerva_'s participation altogether. As for the GINNs being old models no longer in use, I should point out that the general public likely doesn't know or care. Perhaps some are interested enough to realize GINNs are obsolete, but think about it, gentlemen. Military analysis is what _we_ do, not what the average man on the street does. The possibility of anyone realizing how unlikely it is that ZAFT would deploy such machines for an operation like this is miniscule."

"Exactly," Djibril concurred. "And, as we also discussed, what the people want most is someone to blame. We've already begun our propaganda efforts in that regard, and the terrorist attacks by Earth-based cells have only aided our cause." He smiled thinly. "My own estimate is that we can launch an actual _nuclear_ strike without suffering negative public opinion."

Maximilian Webster frowned. "A new nuclear attack against the PLANTs… I like the sound of that, Djibril, but I honestly have to wonder if we can pull it off. The PLANTs are wary of that sort of thing these days… and I notice from battle data that, not only have we failed to pin anything on Section Nine, but the Butcher Bird himself has resurfaced."

Blue Cosmos' leader sighed again. "I told you going in, Max, that Section Nine would be too smart to get involved directly. Their leader has always been fiendishly slippery in that regard, after all. I will concede, however, that I didn't anticipate the reappearance of DiFalco; after all this time, I assumed he'd just remain in Orb, rebuilding the place. Nonetheless, he's only one man, and his machine appears to have lost its anti-fleet capability during its reconstruction. Moreover, my predictions regarding Roanoke appear to have been largely justified. He may have failed to outright destroy DiFalco, but I expect the man will move more cautiously from here on, assuming he hasn't been convinced to stay out of the matter entirely."

Webster leaned back, considering the matter, and Sutherland frowned in thought. "You may be right, Djibril," he said slowly, glancing briefly at Webster and Azrael. "I'm not yet prepared to vote in favor of your attack plan… but I'll concede it may indeed be practical. Accepting for the moment that it is, how long would it take to prepare for?"

"Perhaps four months," Sykes answered, fielding the military question. "Our nuclear stockpiles have only recently recovered from the massive assault Director Azrael launched two years ago; the Treaty slowed us down more than I'd like. Also, we need to refit many of our ships to carry nuclear missiles again. Because of the provisions of the Treaty, we had to maintain nearly half our fleet without nuclear capability, in order to have them available to show off if Orb or the PLANTs got snippy."

Azrael grimaced. "That long? Well, I suppose it can't be helped… Just be sure to keep your work _very_ carefully hidden, Admiral Sykes. If Section Nine gets word of our activities, well… they may be small, but they _do_ have nuclear capability themselves, and I doubt they'd hesitate to use it if they suspected we were preparing to use our own stockpiles."

"I understand completely, Mr. Azrael," Sykes assured him. "Believe me, we've been taking those accursed interlopers seriously ever since they stole the X105E from us. That's what Commander Hamilton's Project Zeta is all about, among other things. In this case, I've ordered Vice Admiral Taggart at Arzachel to handle the refits; not even Section Nine will get any information out of there until it's far too late."

"We also may have another avenue to pursue," Webster put in, tone thoughtful.

The others present looked at him in interest. "Got something up your sleeve, Max?" Sutherland asked. "Something to do with Orb, perhaps?"

Webster nodded. "As you all know, we've recently gotten Unato Ema Seiran firmly on our side… in part due to a hefty infusion of cash. That bribe, incidentally, should allow us additional control over him; blackmail can be a very efficient motivator. In this particular instance, though, we have something even better: mutual self interest. It would seem that Orb's prime minister and his ambitious son are no happier with the existence of Section Nine than we are."

Azrael sat up straighter in his chair. "Are you suggesting Seiran could do something about them, Max?"

"Not at the present moment," Webster admitted. "However, the power struggle in Orb is growing more tense by the day; at this rate, Seiran should be able to wrest a substantial amount of authority from the Chief Representative. Should that happen, he'll be in a position to… interfere with Section Nine's Orb operations. And since Orb is one of the two nations responsible for keeping the organization afloat, _and_ the one in which the Major himself supposedly resides…"

He could see from the suddenly interested expressions on the faces of his colleagues that he didn't need to explain further.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Millenia Crescent's Quarters

* * *

As was his wont, Ken DiFalco had slipped back aboard _Minerva_ with little ceremony; he had simply requested permission to come aboard to discuss where the two ships would go next, and also noted he had some personal business to attend to while aboard. 

Talia Gladys was one of those more ambivalent about the Grimaldi Falcon than anything else; however, she was also convinced he would not harm ZAFT unless it was necessary –in his view- to protect the PLANTs, and at this point there was no indication he felt it _was_ necessary.

Besides which, she had the feeling he was quite capable of going about his business with or without her approval.

In this she was quite correct. After receiving the captain's permission, Ken had quietly slipped through _Minerva_'s least-used corridors, finally finding himself outside the hatch he sought… and within moments, he'd deftly disabled the locking mechanism, cracking with ease a ZAFT personal security code that would've stymied most other hackers for considerably longer.

When the hatch to his old protégé's cabin slid aside, he entered quietly, and quickly shut the hatch behind him, before taking a look about his surroundings.

Ken was not at all surprised by what he saw there. Millenia Crescent lay on a bunk as though asleep… but the "bunk" was very different from any other aboard _Minerva,_ with various machines and several displays around its edges, as well as cables from the headrest connecting with the base of her neck.

There was also the small matter that she didn't appear to be breathing.

"So… this is how it's done," he murmured, recalling what had sent him on this errand in the first place. When he'd come aboard, Kira had noted that Millenia had departed immediately after landing, saying that she'd attend to her injury personally… much as Ken himself had once done.

Unlike Kira, Ken was fully aware of the true nature of Millenia's body, and so curiosity had compelled him to come.

For Millenia's part, it didn't take long for her to sense the intrusion into her immediate vicinity. She was not, after all, truly asleep, but rather in a sort of "standby" mode, regulated by her bunk. Within moments, her crimson eyes opened, and she turned to look at her visitor.

Somehow, she wasn't surprised to see him wearing his trademark gray trench coat and eyepatch; presumably, he saw no point in hiding his identity aboard a ship whose entire crew knew of his presence. "Hello, Falcon," she said quietly, carefully disconnecting the computer cables from the sockets at the back of her neck. "What brings you here?"

Ken gave her a half-smile. "Not going to ask how I got in?"

Millenia snorted. "I know you and your hacking too well, Falcon. I'm sure you could get into Captain Gladys' quarters if you felt like it."

"True," he conceded, and leaned back against the hatch. "To answer your question, though, I came because I heard from Kira and Cagalli that you'd insisted on heading off to deal with your 'injury' personally. Now, they don't know –yet- exactly what you are… but I do, so I confess I was curious to see exactly how you handle that sort of thing."

She swung her legs off the bunk, and patted one of the machines attached to it. "I was in a self-repair cycle," the ZAFT commander explained. "Takes a fair amount of power, but if I'm jacked into _Minerva_'s power systems –and have the proper computer support handy- I can just regenerate my own systems. It wouldn't help if I, say, lost a limb, or suffered other major structural damage, but it's more than good enough to handle a 'cut' like this."

"So I see." Millenia's red coat was off, revealing the light blue, sleeveless undershirt typical of ZAFT uniform; it let him see quite clearly that the wound Kira had described was no longer present. "Artificial blood, hm?"

Millenia nodded. "That's right. My brain still needs oxygen to function, after all, so that stuff is used for it. Normally colorless, mine is red, to better keep up appearances."

"Appearances are important," Ken murmured, "especially if you have a deep secret… reminds me of how I was, during my early days with the _Archangel."_ He tilted his head. "Self-repair cycle… So, you don't sleep much either, huh?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. My brain needs the downtime, but without a flesh and blood body I can go about two days like this. I usually don't bother, since I don't want people to get curious, but when need be…" Millenia raised an eyebrow. "So, _you_ don't sleep much? I find that somewhat surprising, Falcon, for a calm, collected guy like you."

Ken turned away. "It's harder to be calm and collected when my mind isn't fully engaged," he said quietly. "In sleep, my mind reverts… and I see images I'd be better off forgetting. When my nightmares do happen, they're actually worse than they were before Jachin. Back then… I'd not actually seen GENESIS fire."

Millenia nodded slowly. By the time of the Second Battle of Jachin Due, she'd already been in stasis for several months, while the doctors sought to ensure she would wake up in one piece, but she'd poured over the records of the battle since awakening.

In actual fact, she was amazed that any of True ZAFT's forces had survived at all. According to records, Ken had gone in with only six ships and perhaps forty mobile suits… while ZAFT had deployed over three _thousand_ GINNs, CGUEs, and GuAIZ's, along with numerous special units, all supported by over five hundred _Nazca_ and _Laurasia_-class ships. The Earth Forces, in turn, had sent out over three thousand Dagger variants, an _Archangel_-class mobile assault ship, several _Agamemnon_-class battleships, and over five hundred _Drake_ and _Nelson_-class ships.

In short, True ZAFT had been outnumbered by almost a hundred to one, and yet they came out of it with only one ship lost outright. Most of their mass-production units had been lost over the course of the battle, and their surviving ships brutally mauled, but only _Arkbird_ was a total loss… and despite such incredible odds, Ken DiFalco's master plan, executed by such brilliant strategists as Andrew Waltfeld and executed by captains such as Murrue Ramius and Lance Cooper, with pilots like Athrun Zala and Kira Yamato, actually succeeded.

But not, Millenia knew, without terrible consequences. The Shiva Option had been a terrible demonstration of a calculated risk, and in the end Ken had known from the start that GENESIS would fire at least once… and so it had, wreaking terrible devastation on the Earth Alliance's Fourth Fleet. In the end, that act had been a boon to True ZAFT… but she knew quite well Ken would never think of it that way.

"It left its mark didn't it?" Millenia said now, voice soft. "Even though it helped your battle, in the end…"

"It still should never have been used," Ken stated, his face assuming the blank expression that had been his trademark in his early days on _Archangel._ "That, however, is in the past now. I found my absolution, my redemption in the destruction of that thing." He straightened then, pushing away from the hatch. "The Grimaldi Falcon is dead now; Ken DiFalco is all the remains."

She raised an eyebrow. "The 'Demon Lord'?"

He shrugged. "I can't say I liked the man who pinned that name on me –in fact, I'm quite pleased you killed him- but I do have to admit it fits." He turned to the hatch, and it slid aside at his touch. "I suggest you get back into proper uniform, amigo; I have a meeting with Captain Gladys in a few minutes, and you'll probably be invited."

After the ace had departed, Millenia allowed herself a quiet chuckle. "Same old Falcon… different title, more upbeat outlook, but still a master of the dramatic entrance… and even more dramatic exit.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Talia's Office

* * *

"Glad you could join us, Commander, Major," Talia greeted, when Ken and Millenia entered her office. Kira and Cagalli were already there, while Arthur Trine kept watch on the bridge. "Is everything all right, Commander Crescent? I understand you were injured during your return to the ship." 

"I'm fine, Captain," Millenia assured her. "The wound was only superficial." The captain was, of course, briefed regarding the pilot's "condition", but it was always best to keep up appearances. "So, I suppose we're trying to determine our next destination now?"

"Exactly," Talia confirmed. "We've got a good idea of where we are now, so we've got several choices as to our new course." She turned to Kira and Cagalli. "One concern, of course, is that we still have the Chief Representative of Orb and her bodyguard aboard. We need to be getting the two of you back to Orb as soon as is practical."

"I fully understand the exigencies of your situation, Captain," Cagalli said with a nod. "_Archangel_ was in similar situations a couple of times during the War, while I was aboard."

"It may not really be an issue, though," Kira pointed out. "We're still traveling with _Odin,_ after all; we can always transfer over to her, if need be."

Ken nodded in agreement. "That's true. I need to return to Orb soon myself, to make my report –both reports- to Prime Minister Seiran. Also, this really isn't the best position from which to make strategic decisions; Section Nine's Orb headquarters will be much more convenient to the intelligence data our main HQ will no doubt have for me by now."

The ace didn't add that he had personal concerns, as well. He was quite certain that Murrue was worried sick about him by now, and he didn't want to keep her waiting any longer.

"All right, then," Talia murmured, nodding to herself. "We can transfer you two over to _Odin,_ then, for your return trip. If I may, though, I'd ask that _Odin_ remain in our vicinity until we make some repairs; we're going to be more vulnerable than usual for a few days."

_That's reasonable enough,_ Cagalli thought, pondering the matter. _Still… there might be a better idea, at that._ "Actually, Captain," she said aloud, "I don't think there's any need for that. I think traveling with _Odin_ is a good idea… but why not make the journey all the way to Orb yourselves? We're only fifty kilometers out, much closer to Orb than to Carpentaria. You could get full repairs at Morgenroete, instead, and also be in a protected harbor for the duration."

Talia frowned. "It's tempting, My Lady, but I'm not sure that would be such a good idea. The Seirans, for one thing; and the Earth Alliance…"

"With respect, Captain," Millenia interjected, "it might not be a bad idea."

She'd been mostly silent since the conversation began, but that didn't mean she hadn't been paying attention. Rather, the pilot had been thinking rapidly, considering the situation on her own, and now she perceived certain advantages to Cagalli's proposal.

Talia raised an eyebrow, curious. "How do you mean, Commander?"

Millenia shrugged. "Think about it, Captain. No matter what happens, _Minerva_ is going to be in dry-dock for months; we never fully repaired the damage inflicted in our chase of Bogey One, and reentry wasn't any kinder. On another note, there's the fact that Carpentaria is a _very_ important location, strategically speaking. When –not if, I fear- war breaks out again, Carpentaria is going to be virtually surrounded by the Earth Alliance from Day One. If we're still there, and I think we would be, it could be extremely awkward. It may actually be better to sit things out under Orb protection for a little while, until we're ready to reenter the fight."

The captain sat back, thinking. _She may have a point,_ she conceded inwardly. _For certain, we'd be a veritable sitting duck even sitting in Carpentaria's dry-dock; all it would take would be one good cruise missile strike, and we'd be gone. Still… I'm not entirely sure Orb would be a safe place for us, either._

"It's a very tempting offer, Lady Cagalli," Talia said at last, "but I must express some concerns. Most notably, there's the small matter that your government –not you, of course, but other important officials- currently seems more sympathetic to the Earth Alliance than to the PLANTs, possibly to a dangerous degree."

Cagalli sighed. "You do have a point," she conceded unhappily. "However, even Unato wouldn't dare try anything against a ship that I place under my personal protection. He's succeeded in wresting some power from the Chief Representative, but even he wouldn't attempt something like that. Too much of the military remembers the War, for one thing; he's limited in what he can do, at least for now, by the military's own prejudices." She met the ZAFT captain's eyes. "I can't vouch for your safety outside Orb territory, Captain, but I can and will swear that as long as I'm Chief Representative, you'll be safe within our borders."

Talia considered that for several more moments, then nodded slowly. _The word of a princess is seldom to be questioned,_ she thought, _especially _this_ princess. In that case…_ "Very well, My Lady. I accept." She turned to Ken. "Major, I presume _Odin_ will be willing to provide us with cover, should any… complications arise?"

Ken nodded amiably. "Of course, Captain. At the moment, I daresay our objectives are effectively identical. Also, I have a feeling that _Minerva_ and her pilots will play a very important role in the coming conflict." His eyes took on a faraway look. "And where the world goes from here… even I cannot predict."

* * *

Author's Note:

* * *

_Minerva, Odin,_ and their respective pilots have survived to reach Earth… and in the wake of their heroic efforts, Earth is saved from total destruction. Nevertheless, the world has suffered terrible damage, which may never be fully repaired… and some plot to use that very devastation to wreak terrible damage in space. 

Meanwhile, the two ships begin to head for Orb, where they hope to find safe harbor for a while… but as they do so, more intrigue awaits, and someone from Ken DiFalco's past will soon return from the shadows…

Well, I fully expect that this chapter isn't as interesting as some, but as I've said in the past, not _every_ chapter can have a battle, or even a new, shocking revelation. Observant readers will, however, notice hints of important events to come; cryptic as they are, they'll be expanded upon as the story progresses, until their final conclusion.

I should note here that this chapter will be followed by another update of the same story, rather than one for A Call to Arms; there are several plot points that are about to come up which I'm going to find quite enjoyable, and I think you'll find rather… interesting. It will also mark the beginning of the end for canonical events in this story. From Chapter 8 on, we're going into completely uncharted territory (though the reference to the "Sahara Sea" in this chapter is probably something of a clue in that direction already).

In the meantime, though, please let me know how _this_ chapter was. -Solid Shark


	8. Chapter 8: Souls and Swords

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

Also, all references to characters and events from the Equatorial Union Civil War are property of Ominae; for further information, see his story "Rebellion"

* * *

Orb Union, Onogoro Island, Morgenroete Harbor, October 10th, C.E. 73

* * *

Three days after landing in the Pacific Ocean, fifty kilometers northwest of Orb, ZAFT Mobile Assault Ship _Minerva_ and Section Nine Escort Ship _Odin_ arrived in safe harbor at last, both crews thoroughly exhausted by the events of the past week.

As Cagalli Yula Athha and the enigmatic Major had expected, there were more than a few raised eyebrows at Orb's military headquarters when _Odin_ arrived escorting a ZAFT vessel; they both rather suspected, from the delay involved in receiving clearance to dock, that several messages had been sent back and forth between the harbor and the prime minister's officer before Cagalli finally put her foot down.

Even as the two ships docked, the highest-ranking officials aboard both knew they had some long days ahead of them.

The badly-damaged _Minerva_ was the first to come to a halt, sliding into place with a precision that belied her wounds; Malik Yardbirds hadn't been chosen for _Minerva_'s helmsman for nothing. She was swiftly followed by the _Odin,_ coming to a rest on the other side of the same pier… in the opening move of a subtle gambit on the part of the Major.

By the time the pair of ships settled to the "floor" of the sheltered harbor, two men had already arrived to meet them… though both were far more concerned, at this juncture, with _Minerva_ than with _Odin._

Not that _Odin_ was _that_ far from their minds, under the circumstances.

"Quite the debacle, Father," Yuna Roma Seiran mused, waiting with his father for _Minerva_ to open her hatch. "Her… adventures two years ago were bad enough; at least then, if she wasn't on the stronger side, she was fighting _against_ ZAFT. Now…"

Prime Minister Unato Ema Seiran nodded. "By remaining aboard that ship rather than transferring to _Odin_ when she had the opportunity, she's granted the PLANTs a degree of legitimacy. That won't go over well with Webster and the others, and likewise has the potential to cause problems within Orb itself."

"Agreed." The younger man sighed. "It would be _so_ much simpler if that Yamato fellow were out of the picture. With him at her side, she's simply too stubborn… and her actions are becoming ever more dangerous to Orb's welfare." He shook his head. "This can't be allowed, Father."

"I know," Unato said quietly, and shifted his gaze to the _Odin._ "And _that_ band of vigilantes is only making things worse. I'm not sure whether I'm more annoyed that they failed to intervene in the colony drop, or that they continue to exist in the first place. The Major is a reckless man, with far too much power."

"True. If we could just convince her that she needs to, at the least, order Section Nine out of Orb… or better yet, arrest the Major…"

Further conversation was cut off by _Minerva_'s outer hatch finally opening, disgorging a woman in ZAFT white, accompanied by Cagalli and Kira, the latter back in his usual civilian garb… though still with the wakizashi tied to his belt.

Unato quickly stepped forward. "I'm glad to see you home safely, Lady Cagalli," he greeted, ignoring Talia Gladys completely. "From the reports we were getting earlier, I must admit I was getting nervous."

"That's right," Yuna agreed quickly, stepping to his father's side. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Unato," Cagalli assured her prime minister, ignoring Yuna completely. "Unfortunately, not everything went as planned, and I'm afraid we may have an even worse situation on our hands than the one Kira and I were involved in."

Unato nodded. "I anticipated as much, My Lady. We have much to discuss… including, perhaps, changes to some of our more recent foreign policies."

Cagalli's eyes narrowed at those words, and Kira stepped back a pace while she prepared to "discuss" matters with her prime minister. "You should probably meet with the Morgenroete personnel," he said quietly to Talia, "and stay clear of the Seirans for a while. We'll see you again, after Cagalli's gotten things straightened out with them."

Talia nodded. "Probably wise. But are you certain we won't have any problems with the Morgenroete staff?"

He smiled. "You'll be fine here. Erica Simmons –the woman in charge of a lot of this work- was with True ZAFT back in the War… and you'll be dealing directly with a friend of mine. You won't have any trouble with him."

She cocked her head, bemused, but accepted the statement. "All right, then, Commander. Thank you."

As Talia turned to head for the Morgenroete facility interior, Cagalli was wrapping up her discussion with Unato… and at the same time, _Odin_'s hatch slid open, allowing two figures to exit.

"All right, Unato," Cagalli said at last. "In that case, let's go straight to the Parliament Building; we'll discuss the situation in detail, and then you can speak with the Major yourself."

"Agreed," Unato said with a nod. "I believe he has a certain amount of explaining to do… and I'll want to speak with DiFalco, as well, when he deigns to return to the capital…"

He trailed off then, as a figure strode confidently past him. Gasmask covering his face, trench coat fluttering behind him, the Major swept past Unato Ema Seiran, seemingly without a care in the world. Unato was able to let that pass, albeit with gritted teeth… but the next figure to pass froze him in place.

His son wasn't unaffected, either… nor were Kira and Cagalli, whose own eyes went wide with disbelief.

Dressed in Section Nine gray, wearing the mask that had once typified him, Rau Le Creuset nodded politely to Unato. "Pardon me," he said mildly, and walked off in the Major's wake.

Yuna was left rooted to the spot he stood on, shocked into immobility by the apparition; Kira and Cagalli were little better, seeing a man they'd once known as their most bitter enemy calmly walk by in the Major's wake… despite the fact that he was supposed to be dead, and moreover was supposed to be the Major's most hated enemy in the entire universe.

Unato was the first to find his voice. "Excuse me, Lady Cagalli," he began, controlling his voice only with extreme difficulty, "but was that Rau Le Creuset who just walked by?"

"It was," Kira answered, before Cagalli could. "I saw him face to face once during the War; that was him, all right."

"And just what," Unato said, in a voice of deadly calm, "was a man who was declared dead two years ago, and a madman on top of that, doing very much alive, in Section Nine uniform, and walking through a secure Morgenroete facility?"

Cagalli shrugged helplessly. "I don't know," she informed him, feeling more than a little stunned herself. "I really don't, Unato; this is the first I've heard of it. But," she added, glancing toward the door the Major had just disappeared through, "I fully intend to find out."

The prime minister nodded stiffly. "The government would very much appreciate that, Lady Cagalli. This kind of development could be… unpleasant." He closed his eyes for a moment, reflecting that the world in general had been much more orderly two minutes earlier, and took a deep breath. "All right, then," he said, in a much more normal tone. "That can wait. In the meantime, shall we go?"

Cagalli nodded, and she and Kira moved off in the Seirans' wake… and at the same time, exchanged a glance that conveyed much the same thought: _Ken has a _lot_ of explaining to do!  
_

* * *

Morgenroete Harbor Parking Lot

* * *

Ken DiFalco hadn't gotten three meters out of the Morgenroete harbor itself before discretely yanking off his gasmask and tucking it into his trench coat. Eventually, he was sure, Unato would realize his chief architect and his chief pain the neck literally wore the same coat, but for now, the man seemed blissfully ignorant of the whole affair.

_Which,_ the ace reflected, _is probably a very good thing. The last thing I need is to give that creep more ammunition in his "discussion" with me…_

"Over here, Ken!"

The normally reserved –one might almost say taciturn- pilot broke into a smile, hearing that voice, and changed course to walk quickly to the dark gray car waiting for him… and the brown-haired woman standing next to it.

When Ken reached her, Murrue Ramius quickly pulled him into a tight embrace. "About time you got back," she said in his ear. "You're a week overdue, you know!"

"Sorry about that," he replied, returning the embrace. "A few things happened, y'know; the Earth Alliance didn't really seem to care about my busy schedule. Bad habit of theirs, really. That's why I don't work for them anymore."

Murrue chuckled, stepping back. "I thought you didn't work for them anymore because they're the root of all evil."

"Well, yeah," he admitted, "there's that, too."

"Not to mention the small matter that the Earth Alliance is even less fond of Falcon than they are of most Coordinators," Rau interjected dryly. "Hello, Murrue."

"Rau," Murrue said in turn, smile fading only slightly at the masked man's arrival. She still thought Ken was borderline insane to have resurrected the man, but he _did_ seem to be sane these days. "I imagine you need a lift, too?"

"It would be helpful, yes," Providence's former pilot acknowledged. "I'll see about finding other lodgings soon, but for the moment, I think this will be simplest."

"And safest," Ken agreed. "Better to keep this 'in the family', I think, until it becomes clear to Orb in general that you're not the man you were two years ago." Motioning for the other two to get into the car, he slid into the driver's seat and continued speaking. "Maybe talk to Athrun later; he was your senior pilot back in the day."

Rau snorted. "There's also the small matter that the last time we encountered each other, he was attempting to kill the both of us with a nuclear meltdown… but I suppose you're probably right. And then there's Miss Lacus; maybe she'll put in a good word for me." He shook his head. "That girl tends to see the best in people… though I suspect even she may be hard put to accept _my_ current role."

Ken shrugged. "Only one way to find out. And, as the truth is going to come out before long anyway, we might as well find out now." Moving somewhat gingerly –having spent recent weeks mostly in a complete lack of gravity- he eased the car into motion, pulling away from the Morgenroete facility.

"I suppose that inevitability is why you insisted I wear the old mask today," Rau mused. "Or did you just want to frighten the Seirans out of their wits?"

"Well, I suppose that might've been part of it," the ace admitted. "But be honest, Rau: would _you_ want to be seen in public without it?"

"Perhaps not, at that."

"It'll all work out," Murrue opined, from the front passenger seat. "Even with the recent incident, we're going to have plenty of time to figure out what to do from here."

"True enough," Ken conceded. "It's going to be months before the Earth Alliance can make any serious move toward war, and even they will have to go through at least some pretense of 'negotiations' before launching an all-out attack."

"Right," she agreed with a nod. "So, no need to be hasty, either of you. Besides, Ken, you've still got those meetings with Unato to worry about before you start thinking too much about the future." She frowned. "That reminds me. Just before I left to pick you up, I got a call from someone who says he'd like you to drop by."

The ace took his eye off the road for a moment, eyebrow raised. "Does this person have a name, or is it just some average fellow who got wind of my participation in the War?"

Murrue shrugged. "He _did_ give a name, and seemed to know a fair amount about you, Ken. Do you know someone named Sasaki Kojiro?"

Ken's eye went wide. _After all this time?_ he thought, more than a little startled. _He must've heard something about what I've been up to the last couple years… but why does he want to see me now?_ He shook himself. _Doesn't matter why. If he's in Orb right now, the least I can do is pay him a visit._

"Yeah," he said finally, "you might say that I know him. Been a few years… but the name most definitely rings a bell."

* * *

Morgenroete Harbor, Office

* * *

Talia Gladys wasn't sure what to expect when she stepped into the room. Another Morgenroete worker had informed her that the man she'd be working with regarding _Minerva_'s repairs would be here… and that he was, apparently, a veteran of the War.

Whatever she might've been expecting, it wasn't the sight that greeted her. "Good afternoon," the blue-haired, emerald-eyed young man in Morgenroete orange greeted her. "You're Captain Gladys, I take it? My name is Alex Dino." He held out his hand with a smile.

She took the hand, using the time to evaluate the youth. _He can't be more than eighteen or nineteen,_ she realized. _A Coordinator, perhaps? And… maybe one of True ZAFT's pilots? Wait… he looks somehow familiar…_

"That's right," Talia said aloud. "I assume you're the engineer I was told I'd find? Commander Yamato said I'd be dealing with a friend of his…"

His smile widened… yet there was also a guarded look in his eyes. "You might say that, yes. Kira and I have known each other for a long time now. We were best friends when we were kids, attending school in Copernicus. We… started off the War on opposite sides, but I eventually realized what was really going on, and defected to True ZAFT." He waved a hand toward a chair, and waited for her to sit before settling down himself, behind the office's desk. "After the War, he and Falcon –with some assistance from the Chief Representative, of course- got me this job in Morgenroete."

She nodded thoughtfully. "You'd had enough of the military?"

Alex shrugged. "More like it wasn't very healthy for me to be in the spotlight," he said quietly. "I have… had… connections in the PLANTs, ones which are probably better forgotten by most people. Safer, anyway; Sparky Cooper's sacrifice might've solved one problem, but hardly all of them."

Talia looked at him shrewdly. _He's talking as though he were a high-ranking member of True ZAFT… but I don't remember hearing of anyone named "Alex Dino" playing a prominent role in that group. Of course, if he really did have problems of the sort he's talking about, he'd hardly be likely to go under his true name at the moment, now would he?_

"Would I be correct in believing, Mr. Dino," she said carefully, "that 'Dino' isn't actually your name?"

Alex nodded slowly. "That would be a fairly safe assumption, yeah. You'll find, Captain, that most of the prominent members of the old organization are either keeping a _very_ low profile, or operating under an alias. Falcon's a bit of an anomaly, in that he's operating under his real name _and_ an alias, but yes, several of us have found it necessary to adopt new identities post-War."

Talia nodded, frowning thoughtfully. "I see… Somehow, I can't say I'm surprised. Might I ask who _you_ used to be, Mr. Dino?"

"It's probably best for you not to know," he replied quietly. "If you ever do find out, though, you'll understand why I'm so careful."

"Fair enough." _It does leave me very curious, I'll admit… but I guess that doesn't really matter. All members of True ZAFT who came from the PLANTs were pardoned by Chairwoman Canaver after the War, so who he used to be isn't really my concern…_ "In that case," Talia said aloud, "maybe we should get down to business." She nodded at the window behind Alex, looking out over the sheltered harbor. "How long do you think the repairs will take?"

Alex shrugged. "Well, I won't know exactly how long until my people and I have had a chance to look over the ship ourselves, but Falcon's a pretty decent engineer, and he transmitted a damage report with his own estimates before he left. Based on that… well, I'm afraid you probably shouldn't be making any plans till after the New Year."

Talia sighed. "I was afraid of that. Still, if that's what it takes, that's what it takes… I trust you _can_ handle the repairs?"

"Oh, there's no doubt about that," he assured her. "A lot of _Minerva_'s design is based on ZAFT's observations of the _Archangel_-class, after all, and Orb had to repair the _Archangel_ herself twice, as well as Section Nine's _Asmodeus._ Like I said, it'll take a few months –especially with those beam cannon hits- but it's well within Morgenroete's capabilities."

"I'm glad to hear it," she said, with a relieved smile. "I didn't really like the idea of trying to limp to Carpentaria, especially with tensions heating up between Earth and the PLANTs in the wake of the colony drop. I wouldn't put it past some enterprising Earth Forces commander to decide to blow us up on general principles, without waiting for orders."

Alex snorted. "After Alaska and the Battle of Orb, I'm inclined to agree with you there, Captain." He reached for the desk's computer, tapped in a few commands, and brought up _Minerva_'s damage reports. "Now, I figured we'd start with the hull breaches on Deck Three, Section F, so that we can get the outer hull sealed up before we start work on the engines…"

* * *

Orb, Izanagi Island, Parliament Building, Chief Representative's Office

* * *

Settling into the chair behind her desk, Cagalli rubbed her temples wearily. _It's going to be a long month,_ she thought. _A really, _really_ long month…_

"All right," she said finally. "What do we know so far? The information that reached _Minerva_ was only sketchy; mostly just a few news reports. Has there been any change in the last three days?"

"More complete casualty reports are coming in," Unato informed her, sitting across the desk from her. "They mostly serve to confirm the initial estimates. The Algeria-Libya-Niger border region is mostly underwater now; several strikes in Africa have created an entire new sea in the Sahara. Combined with several direct hits on cities and numerous tsunamis produced by ocean strikes, and there are indeed over a billion dead."

"Orb came off fairly lightly," Yuna put in, standing behind his father. "Thanks to Section Nine-" he was quite clearly unhappy making the admission, but he made it anyway "-we had more advance warning than most nations, and were able to prepare. Our dead and missing total less than one hundred, though the islands themselves have suffered some coastal damage."

_Sometimes,_ Cagalli thought with a hidden sigh, _I really have to wonder why I let them talk me into accepting this job. I'm still too young for this; even I know that. But then, if I _hadn't_ accepted it, no doubt Unato would've found some way to put himself or Yuna in charge, and _that_ would be a disaster._

She felt a light touch on her shoulder then, and glanced up to see Kira smiling reassuringly from his place at her right shoulder. Managing a small smile of her own, she nodded to him, and turned back to the Seirans.

"Well," she mused, "at least we came through it with only minor damage… Has there been any official response from the member nations of the Earth Alliance yet?"

Unato nodded. "Actually, yes. As a matter of fact, they've proposed the formation of a 'World Security Treaty Organization', with the immediate goal of providing aid to the areas devastated by Junius Seven's fall, and the long-term mission of protecting the world from other such threats. They're extending this offer of alliance to every nation on Earth, not just their own members."

Cagalli's eyes narrowed. "It sounds like more of their double talk to me," she said darkly. "World Security Treaty Organization… please."

The prime minister cleared his throat. "Actually, Lady Cagalli, I must inform you that myself and others in the government believe this proposal merits serious consideration, in the wake of the recent tragedy. We've already been discussing it in committee."

Her jaw dropped. "You're _what?"_

Unato leaned forward. "Think about it, Lady Cagalli. This proposal promises a chance for genuine peace, and security against external threats…"

Cagalli's eyes flashed angrily. "I don't know what makes you think this is a good idea, Unato, but I _strongly_ disagree. In case you're unaware, it was the Earth Alliance that interfered up there, and prevented us from fully destroying the colony!"

"There's no evidence the Earth Alliance had anything to do with the events up in space," Yuna interjected patiently. "There is, however, considerable evidence that ZAFT was involved."

Unato nodded agreement, and placed several photographs on the desktop, showing the GINN High Maneuver machines from Sato's group. "These images were provided yesterday afternoon by the Atlantic Federation, Lady Cagalli. I, for one, find them to be quite persuasive; those are, after all, _ZAFT_ mobile suits emplacing the flare motors… while there's no sign of Earth Forces units at all."

"Those were renegade units in no way affiliated with the PLANTs, Unato," Cagalli said sharply. "And you know as well as I do that _Minerva_ was sent by the Chairman of the Supreme Council himself to _stop_ Junius Seven, and would've succeeded if the Earth Forces hadn't gotten in the way."

"The Earth Forces were nowhere near-" Yuna began, but Cagalli cut him off.

"If they were nowhere near," she demanded, "then where, exactly, did these images come from? More to the point, Yuna, I was _there,_ and I can tell you that the units that interfered with _Minerva_'s efforts to defeat Sato's renegades were the three ZAFT prototypes stolen by Bogey One –which were seen to fight in company with Dagger Ls in earlier battles- a copy of Ken DiFalco's Preybird –which couldn't have been built by some pirate group- and a new machine piloted by Lieutenant Commander Allen Hamilton, an admitted Earth Alliance soldier. What I saw with my own eyes, heard with my own ears, contradicts everything you've just told me."

Unato hid a sigh. _Uzumi Nara Athha, why did you have to leave behind a strong-willed daughter who has no idea how the world really works? Idealists… they're the sort whose actions resulted in the nuclear attack two years ago…_

"Lady Cagalli," he said at last, "I suggest we table this discussion until we've had a chance to speak with DiFalco and the Major; perhaps their… explanations will shed additional light on the matter." He frowned. "Though I have to wonder why neither of them is here now."

"The Major has business of his own to attend to," Cagalli said, forcing herself to speak patiently, "part of which is making sure he has all the information on hand to answer your questions. As for Ken, it's been a long time now since he was in a situation like that, and he needs to rest. Moreover, his fiancé hasn't seen him since he left to visit Admiral Halberton, two weeks ago."

The official story explaining Ken's absence from Orb –since his double life was hidden from even the Orb government- was that he'd gone to visit Rear Admiral (retired) Lewis C. Halberton, well known to be a longtime friend of the ex-ZAFT ace, and currently living a quiet life in the PLANTs. And Ken had, in fact, done just that… before continuing with his true mission, at Armory One.

"I suppose that's reasonable enough," Unato conceded. "I'll expect reports from both of them tomorrow afternoon, however." He leaned back in his chair. "Barring some startling new piece of information on their part, however, I believe we need to look at how, exactly, we're going to handle the current political situation. However things may have occurred during the colony drop, we can't afford to be blind to the realities of global politics… not if we want Orb to survive."

"On that, My Lord," Cagalli said evenly, "we're in complete agreement."

* * *

After Unato and Yuna had left, Cagalli almost collapsed back into her chair. "Yes, we're in complete agreement," she muttered, "but that's because I know I can't afford to blind to what _you_ two are up to… idiots."

Kira smiled faintly, moving to sit in the chair Unato had just vacated. "You think they're up to something, huh?"

"Kira," she said patiently, "you're a hot computer programmer, and you're the best pilot I've ever seen, but you're still not used to politics yet. Politicians are _always_ up to something, be it good or bad… and with people like the Seirans, it's a safe bet that it's bad." She grimaced. "I've been having some… suspicions about them lately. Ever since they started edging toward closer relations with the Earth Alliance, really."

He nodded sagely at that. He'd found it more than a little… peculiar himself, considering that it was the Earth Alliance's Fourth Naval Fleet that had virtually obliterated Orb during the War. Under Muruta Azrael's command, they'd launched enough nuclear weapons to plaster the islands, and it was only now that Orb was beginning to recover.

The idea that anyone in Orb's government would want _closer_ ties to the Earth Alliance, in the wake of such an atrocity, didn't sit any better with Kira than it did with Cagalli.

"So," he said after a moment, "what are you going to do about it?"

Cagalli sighed. "Honestly? I'm not sure how much I _can_ do, Kira. I happen to think that Ken is quietly investigating Unato's activities dating back for the last three years, especially financial, but unless he turns up something really juicy, I'm stuck with the both of them… and I don't operate in a vacuum here. In theory, I can just tell Unato 'no' if he wants to do something I don't like, like signing the treaty regarding the 'World Security Treaty Organization'… but politics operate just much under unwritten rules and public opinion as by the national constitution. If Unato manages to get a solid majority of the people behind this proposal, there may not be much that I can do about it."

"I don't think I really envy you," Kira mused. "Being a bodyguard isn't exactly easy, but at least my decisions tend to be black and white. Either something _is_ a threat or it isn't, and if it is, all I have to do is deal with him. All these shades of gray in politics…"

"Tell me about it." She rubbed her forehead tiredly. "You know, Kira, as soon as things have calmed down a bit, I'm taking a vacation. If I keep at this too much longer, the stress is going to drive me completely insane." She sighed. "I don't have much hope that Unato will accept it, but I hope Ken comes up with _something_ I can use to beat off this proposal. The last thing we need is to be treaty partners with the Earth Alliance, especially with a new war looking more and more likely…"

Having worn the uniforms of all four major powers from the last war at one time or another –Earth Alliance, ZAFT, True ZAFT, and now Orb- Kira didn't disagree with her in the slightest.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Lounge

* * *

"So, this is Orb, huh?" Vino Dupre mused, sprawling in a chair, looking generally unconcerned about the situation. "Looks nice so far… though I have to say, it's hard to judge when all we've seen are distant views of the islands and the inside of this harbor."

"Can't say I know much about the place myself," Millenia Crescent admitted, leaning against a bulkhead. Unlike other ZAFT officers she knew, she had no trouble mingling with the troops; her own opinion was that it only made sense to be on friendly terms with the mechanics who kept her machine –and, by extension, the pilot- intact. "I'm not really very familiar with Earth. The first time I came here was during Operation Spit Break; a descent direct from orbit to Alaska. That… didn't turn out very well, and I ended up not being on planet very long. So, this is all nearly as new to me as it is to you."

She did not see fit to mention the small fact that the Battle of Alaska had, in a very real sense, killed her.

"I can't wait to take a look around," Meyrin Hawke remarked, gazing out the viewport at the surrounding harbor walls. "Being on Earth for the first time, in one of the neutral nations… should be fun to explore a little."

"I don't know," Yolant Kent said, scratching his head. "I like the idea… but are we even going to be let off the ship at all while we're in port? I've heard that the political situation between Orb and the PLANTs is pretty tense right now, after all…"

"There's a good chance of it, Yolant."

Heads turned, as Shinn Asuka strode in, looking pensive. In one hand, he held a pink cell phone; its significance was somewhat unclear, at least to the others. To Shinn, though, it was inextricably tied to his past here… and the only reason he was still alive.

"What makes you say that, Shinn?" Millenia asked curiously. She was of the same opinion, but hearing the Orb emigrant's reasoning interested her.

Shinn shrugged. "Simple enough. Members of True ZAFT walked Orb's streets freely two years ago, and they weren't even officially alive, after Alaska. If the government was willing to risk it then, I doubt they'll have any problems with crew members from a ship _known_ to be in their territory walking around."

Meyrin nodded in comprehension. "I get it… That's right, you're from Orb, aren't you, Shinn? I guess you _would_ know." She frowned. "Still… the government today is a lot different from the one back in the War, isn't it?"

"True," he conceded. "But… well, you know I have problems with the Athha family-" his eyes flickered with deep-seated anger, but he forced it down "-but the current Chief Representative is at least siding with the PLANTs about the latest incidents. I think she'll stand up for us on this one."

"And," Millenia mused, "she'll probably have some help from a certain eyepatch-wearing pilot. Unato Ema Seiran may dislike Falcon, but his stature in the War –and current role in rebuilding Orb- means he can't dismiss Falcon's words out of hand."

"There's that, too," Shinn concurred.

His agreement surprised no one, considering his well-known opinion of the Grimaldi Falcon.

"If we do go on leave," Shinn said pensively, almost to himself, "then I'm definitely getting some fresh air. And… I need to see something again…"

Millenia glanced at him curiously. _I wonder what's going on in the head of his,_ she thought. _I know his family died here, during the War… but now that I think about it, I never did find out exactly _how._ Was it in the nuclear attack, or something before it? No… it couldn't have been Azrael's spiteful vengeance. From the way Shinn talks about it, he was there when it happened, and if it had been the nukes, he _wouldn't_ be here right now…_

"I've got a certain interest in this nation, myself," Millenia remarked, after a brief –and uncomfortable- silence. "This is the place where True ZAFT was really born, after all; it was Orb that backed up the organization, first directly, and then through the Sahaku family. I ought to be able to get some perspective on exactly how things went down back then."

"I don't know about the rest of it, Commander," Shinn said quietly, gaze distant as he turned to the viewport. "I spent the last few months of the War at Ame-no-Mihashira, before eventually emigrating. I can tell you this, though: the Battle of Orb was something I don't _ever_ want to see again."

"That bad, huh?" Meyrin said sympathetically.

"You have no idea," he told her, turning toward the hatch. "You don't know what it's like, to be a helpless civilian in the path of invasion… to watch from an escape ship as everything you've ever known vanishes in nuclear fire. Without experiencing it yourself, you can't begin to imagine what it feels like."

Eyes shadowed, mind dwelling on memories, the pilot strode out of the compartment.

"I wonder what's with _him?"_ Yolant mused, after Shinn had gone.

"Old memories can be a powerful thing, Yolant," Millenia informed him. "They can dominate your life for years after the fact… that's how Kenneth DiFalco got his start on the road to desertion, and I suspect it's going to influence Shinn for a long time to come…"

* * *

Orb, Residential Area

* * *

"You sure you want to take care of this right now?" Murrue asked, as the car slid smoothly to a halt in front of a nondescript house. "You've only been back in Orb for a couple of hours, after all."

"It's something I'd like to take care of, that's all," Ken replied, unbuckling his seat belt. "Call it… a courtesy call. Besides, if Sasaki Kojiro wants to see me, I'm betting he has a reason for it; that man has a reason for everything."

"Just so long as it doesn't get you killed," Rau remarked sardonically. "I assume this _isn't_ an old enemy you've never gotten around to mentioning?"

"Hardly." Ken reached over and squeezed Murrue's shoulder. "It shouldn't take me more than an hour. I'll be home soon enough; and then I have every intention of relaxing for the next couple of weeks, barring any… unpleasantness from the Seirans."

He got out, and Murrue moved over to the driver's seat. "Just be careful, Ken," she told him, mock-severely. "Your 'old acquaintances' are enough to make ordinary people nervous sometimes, you know. Watch your back."

Ken smiled, and patted the katana hidden under his trench coat. "Always do, love. I'll tell you all about it when I get home."

"I'll hold you to that."

As Murrue pulled the door closed, Ken heard Rau mutter under his breath, "Excellent… now I get to face Athrun and Lacus without any backup…"

Chuckling to himself, Ken watched as they drove off, then turned, laid one hand on the hilt of his sword, Griever, and walked to the house's front door. Upon reaching it, he hesitated for a moment, then resolutely knocked.

Somehow, the ace wasn't surprised when the door swung quietly open at his touch. It _did_ make him slightly curious as to what he was about to find, but it didn't stop him from stepping quietly into the building, scanning the dimness inside.

What _did_ halt his forward motion, after he'd gotten several steps into the house, was a soft swishing noise from his left… followed instantly by cold steel being pressed against his throat, just beneath his chin.

Ken instantly froze, and a low voice murmured, "Losing your touch, young one?"

He closed his eye, recognizing the voice. "It's been a while… Master."

The blade remained against Ken's throat for a moment longer, then withdrew, as the gray-haired, scar-faced man stepped out of the shadows, chuckling quietly. "Yes, Griever, it has. A good… three years now? Almost four?" Sasaki Kojiro sheathed his katana, and motioned for Ken to follow him deeper into the house. "I must admit, though, that I expected better out of _you;_ that you wouldn't even draw your blade before stepping into an unknown situation…"

Ken snorted, following him into a simply-furnished living room. "Unknown? Perhaps; but I know you, Master. If it had truly been a trap, my sword would've done me no good at all. Whether she was drawn or not, you still would've beheaded me before I even knew you were there."

Kojiro raised an eyebrow, as they both knelt on the floor. "Your point being?"

"My point being," the pilot said dryly, "that I'd either be dead before I had a chance to use her, or I wouldn't need her at all. Either way, I saw no point in going to the effort of drawing a blade I wouldn't be using."

His old master smiled slowly. "You've learned much, young Griever, in the years since we parted. Now you understand that sometimes, drawing your blade has no point."

Ken rolled his eye. "And I'm sure you asked me to come here today just so that you could make that point, right?" He was not at all puzzled by Kojiro's use of the name "Griever"; his master had called him that long before he chose to bestow that name on his katana. In retrospect, that name seemed almost prophetic, considering how Ken's left had gone in the last few years…

"Actually, no," Kojiro admitted, smile fading a little. "I mostly wanted to catch up with you, hear how you've been these last few years." He glanced at Ken's attire, and nodded thoughtfully. "I can see part of it… since you're still hanging onto that trench coat."

The ex-ZAFT ace glanced down at himself, mildly puzzled. It was true enough that he'd worn it –or a copy thereof- for some years now. He'd taken to wearing a trench coat during his ZAFT Academy days, and eventually it had become one of his trademark idiosyncrasies as a commander. By that time, he'd worn the single coat for over two years… and had worn it even on duty ever since the Bloody Valentine changed his life forever.

The coat he'd worn as ZAFT commander and leader of the Gray Demons had been incinerated during the fighting on Heliopolis; the one he wore now was a gift from his brother, Mu La Flaga, a few days into _Archangel_'s journey from the doomed colony. In the subsequent months, he'd occasionally forgone it when it was necessary to emphasize his uniform –most such instances having been after the _Archangel_'s desertion from the Earth Forces- but ever since becoming leader of Section Nine, the slate-gray trench coat had been an ever-present part of Ken DiFalco's daily attire.

"Is there something odd about that?" Ken said at last, having failed to divine any answers from visual inspection of his own coat.

"Perhaps not," Kojiro said slowly. "It is, after all, part of the mystique of the Grimaldi Falcon."

Ken looked away. "I don't really care for that name," he said softly. "To those in ZAFT not party to the belief that I'm a traitor, that name refers to a hero; many in Orb and the old guard from True ZAFT think the same. I, on the other hand, regard it only as a reminder of a bloody battle that cost me most of the few remaining people in the universe I cared about. These days I use the callsign 'Moebius One'… or, as Sato aptly put it, the Demon Lord."

"Either name would suit you well," the swordmaster –and, Ken recalled, self-described ronin- mused.

"You are fully as mysterious as the mathematical properties 'Moebius' refers to, and 'Demon Lord' certainly fits a man who led a unit called the Gray Demons. Nonetheless, you present a curious dichotomy, Falcon, in that you reject the name and memory of your past… and yet you retain the outward trappings of that same past. Isn't that a study in contradictions?"

Ken tilted his head. "I'd never thought of it that way," he admitted. "It's just… something I've always worn, I suppose. It would take a near-death experience to change that now, I think."

"Well," Kojiro said with a small smile, "you've certainly had plenty of those in recent years… and, I note, not one of them changed you much. In terms of your chosen ensemble, at any rate."

The pilot raised an eyebrow. "You've been keeping an eye on me, have you, Master?"

"Of course I have. You were my star pupil, after all… and I had another interest in the matter, as well." Kojiro met Ken's gaze levelly. "I was, to be perfectly honest, very curious to see when you would finally die."

Something about his master's words sent a chill down Ken's spine. "Don't you mean, 'if'?" he said, almost in a whisper.

The swordsman shook his head. "I said when, and I meant when, Griever. To be frank, that was a large part of the reason I bestowed the nickname 'Griever' on you, ten years ago. My belief was that you not survive as long as you have. In point of fact, Heinrich would be astonished to see you alive today."

Ken twitched, remembering the man he'd sliced in half at Banadiya, two years before. "Heinrich Metzinger," he murmured. "The man who created me… Just what do you know about him, Master? You sound like you knew him quite well."

Kojiro laughed softly. "I wasn't always a ronin, Falcon. Let's just leave it at that." His expression sobered. "How I knew him is immaterial, in any case. What matters is that, by Heinrich's calculations, you should've died within a year of Second Jachin."

The ace closed his eye. "I think, Master," he said quietly, "that you really need to explain that."

"Fair enough." Kojiro stood, and walked over to a window. "You know, of course, that you were partly intended as a prototype for the Ultimate Coordinator project; you were the first to be born via an artificial womb, after all. What you do _not_ know is that you are a _failed_ prototype."

"Failed?" Ken repeated. "What do you mean? If he was intending to create the perfect soldier, I daresay he came very close to succeeding. You know as well as I my record on the battlefield."

"True," the swordsman acknowledged. "But consider your eye, for example. Do you really think Heinrich intended for only _one_ of your eyes to have the enhanced visual range? Asymmetry was not his style, Falcon."

"Point," the pilot admitted. "Though I can't say I mind; having that 'advantage' in one eye is quite bad enough, as far as I'm concerned." He tilted his head. "Mind explaining where my untimely death enters the equation?"

Kojiro lightly stroked the hilt of his katana, thinking. "There were… mistakes made, in your genetic sequencing," he said slowly. "They weren't obvious at first, and Heinrich himself didn't notice them until shortly after you fell out of his hands. They were, however, fairly serious, to the point that he believed you wouldn't survive to see your nineteenth birthday."

Ken came to his feet, brows furrowed. "Strange," he mused. "For a dead man, I've been doing quite well the last two years."

"I'm sure. Nonetheless…" Kojiro turned to face him, eyes serious. "I expect you're aware that your body is beginning to deteriorate, at the genetic level."

The ace stiffened. "Deteriorate?" he repeated. "I've noticed a… decrease in my capabilities, that my reflexes aren't quite what they once were, but I've seen no indication of what you're suggesting, Master."

"Perhaps not; you've never been very concerned with your own genetics, after all… Still, Falcon, it is indeed the case. Your body is no longer at the level it was during the War."

Ken closed his eye. _If what Master is saying is true, then it inevitably leads to… No. Can it be?_ "How long do I have, Master?" he asked quietly.

Kojiro waved a hand. "Oh, it's hardly life-threatening, Griever. Your reflexes and strength are gradually losing their edge, but if you haven't died from it already, I hardly think you're likely to now. No, the operative point is this: physically, you were at the peak of your abilities when you fought Rau Le Creuset at Second Jachin. You will never reach that height again."

"…I can't say I'm entirely surprised," Ken admitted, turning away, his face vanishing into shadow. "As I said, I could feel something… different, in my recent battles. My reflexes were just a touch slower than that day, at Jachin…" He turned his head slightly, looking back at his mentor. "Is there anything I can do to compensate?"

The swordmaster hid a smile. It was, in his experience –and, he gathered, that of most other people- highly unusual for Ken DiFalco to be uncertain about anything; in his field, he usually simply did as he saw fit, without bothering to consult anyone else. He was, after all, very nearly the best at his own profession.

On the other hand, the Falcon was also notoriously weak in the physical sciences, and also rather absent-minded on the subject. A proficient swordsman and martial artist, he tended to be blasé to the point of near-death where his health was concerned… as was evidenced by several nasty experiences revolving around his artificial heart.

_No,_ Ken's mentor thought, _I suppose this isn't _that_ surprising. Satisfying, though, after all the confident –and arrogant- decisions he's made over the past few years…_

"Well," Kojiro said finally, allowing no trace of his thoughts to show in his expression, "I won't presume to tell you how to fly a mobile suit; that's your area, not mine. In general, though, my advice would be more training. You will never again reach the pinnacle of your ability, but with more extensive training –and careful consideration based on your own battle experience- I would say you'll still be more than a match for most adversaries you may encounter."

Ken nodded sharply. "Then that's exactly what I'll do," he said decisively. "A new war is coming, and I have little doubt I'll be back on the frontlines as soon as it does. When that time arrives, I can't afford to be at anything less than my absolute best."

"I thought as much." Kojiro turned back to the window, smiling faintly. "Having watched from the shadows throughout most of your little guerrilla war, I've got a pretty good idea of what you'll do to any obstacle that dares to place itself in your path. Threaten it with death, and then carry out the threat if it doesn't instantly comply…"

The ace looked at him shrewdly. "Just how long _have_ you been watching me, Master? And how much do you really know about what I did in the War?"

The swordmaster chuckled quietly. "Oh, a fair amount, young Griever. I always like to keep an eye on my star pupils, after all… and, given my knowledge of your genetic situation, I had an added reason to watch you." He glanced sidelong at his student. "I was very much interested in the Victor Tempest situation, for example. That one, I actually considered intervening in myself, what with his knowledge of the blade."

"He was a ZAFT officer," Ken said carefully, eye narrow. "Exactly how did you intend to reach him in the first place?"

"Oh, I have my ways," his teacher said, with an enigmatic smile. "I wasn't always a mere ronin, after all…"

The pilot rolled his eye, hearing the stock response again. "Fine. Presupposing you could indeed get to him… why didn't you?"

Kojiro turned serious again. "Because after thinking about it, I realized something, Falcon: in a very real sense, Victor Tempest was a threat _you_ created. You taught him the Art, despite knowing better than anyone of his instability. You had to know even as you did so that he might snap one day. As, of course, he eventually did. With that in mind, I believed it to be _your_ responsibility, not mine. Also, I thought it would serve as an admirable test of your abilities, considering the techniques you must've taught him."

Ken scowled. "Yes, you could call him an 'admirable' test… admirable enough that he cost me my eyes. If I didn't regenerate nerve tissue like crazy, I'd be blind right now."

"Your regenerative abilities may not be unlimited," Kojiro warned. "I wouldn't count on them, if I were you." He shrugged. "In any case, it could've been worse; at least you never taught him the Tsubame Gaeshi."

"Possibly because I never fully mastered it myself," Ken said with a snort. "If I had mastered the Swallow Reversal, you can be sure I'd have used it on him _before_ he blinded me; then I wouldn't have had to rely on another of Metzinger's little tricks to stay alive."

"Nonetheless, you dealt with the problem," Kojiro pointed out. "I daresay the fact that Tempest actually _wanted_ to die may have had something to do with that, of course, but your achievement stands." His brow furrowed, as he stared out into the afternoon sky. "However… you may have an even greater problem this time."

His student grimaced, fingering Griever's hilt. "I know. Neo Roanoke… I don't know who he is, but he's too good for my comfort. And… he seems to have some knowledge of our particular art. I don't know how he acquired that knowledge, but it makes me uneasy."

"As it should," the swordmaster acknowledged. "You should be very careful when dealing with that man, Falcon. However, I wasn't referring to him at all." He looked at Ken through the corner of his eye. "I feel somehow certain that, eventually, you aims will diverge from ZAFT. Am I right?"

Ken nodded slowly. "It seems likely," he admitted. "At the moment, our goals would seem to coincide, but a… reliable source indicates that I shouldn't trust Gilbert Durandal. That being the case, Section Nine may well have to assume its intended role." He tilted his head. "So, you're saying…"

"Yes," Kojiro confirmed. "Millenia Crescent. Do you believe that, as she is now, as _you_ are now, you could truly defeat her?"

The ace closed his eye. "Obviously you're aware of the true nature of her current body; somehow I'm not surprised…" He sighed. "No, Master, I'm not at all certain of my ability to do that. She is, at this point, a largely unknown factor, even to me. I trained her in our School; she was better at it than even Victor… and with her body, her moves would be blindingly fast and very powerful. Not to mention the fact that she'd know almost all of _my_ moves."

Kojiro nodded thoughtfully. "In that case, Falcon, we'll have to give you some moves she _doesn't_ know." He smiled faintly. "Due to my… previous line of work, I actually know _two_ styles. I taught you the one that I believed you had the greater chance of mastering in the time I thought you had… but there is another. One is intended mostly for tournaments or structured duels, while the other… the other is meant more for utterly destroying your opponents."

Ken came to his feet, and slowly drew Griever. "In the middle of a war…" he murmured, gazing at the mirror-polished blade, "…I like the sound of that."

* * *

Orb, Reverend Malchio's Orphanage

* * *

Athrun Zala, having completed the initial business with _Minerva_ –in part because Talia Gladys herself still needed a rest, after the past week of fighting- had actually arrived back at his home before Murrue's car was even in sight… and, as he and Lacus Clyne waited for _Archangel_'s captain to bring the former commander of True ZAFT home, he wondered just what the delay was.

_Last-minute sightseeing trip?_ he thought to himself, sitting on the orphanage's porch with Lacus. _Or maybe he needed to retrieve something from Section Nine HQ? Ah, who knows with him. Mysterious even now…_

"Perhaps he wanted to hear Rick's report," Lacus suggested, correctly guessing the direction of Athrun's thoughts. "I'm sure he's quite concerned about the situation, after all; maybe he wanted to get an early start on analysis?"

Athrun shrugged. "Who knows? I never was able to figure him out; Murrue's probably the only one who really knows what goes on in his head… Wait a second, here they come now."

They both looked up as the car drove smoothly up the driveway shared by the DiFalco residence and the orphanage, then stood as it came smoothly to a halt. Striding over with Lacus on his arm, Athrun opened his mouth to greet his friends as they got out of the car… and then he froze, eyes wide, jaw dropped, as he saw who exited from the passenger side. Nor was Lacus unaffected, uttering a gasp of her own at the sight.

"Hello, Athrun," Rau Le Creuset greeted with a small smile. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Staring in utter disbelief at the man before him, Athrun's mind flashed back to the last time he'd encountered the masked commander. The Second Battle of Jachin Due, when he'd nearly brought his own life to an end in an attempt to defeat his former commander…

_Athrun ejected the METEOR unit entirely, throwing Justice free from the deathtrap the weapons platform had become. "It's not over yet, Commander!" he called, even as the METEOR exploded behind him. He drew his sabers, connecting them together, and charged forward; he knew he couldn't defeat Providence in this manner, but if he could just get close enough… "I'm still bringing you down!"_

"_What can you hope to achieve?" Le Creuset wondered, more amused than anything else. "Justice doesn't have the firepower to stop divine Providence; not without that METEOR unit. Or are you just trying to distract me from going after Falcon?"_

"_Oh, you'll find this _distracting,_ all right!" Twisting through the maelstrom of energy fire, Athrun delved into Justice's software… and started removing the safeties on the nuclear reactor. "I guess today is a good day to die!"_

Athrun's hand dropped instinctively to the grip of the pistol he wasn't wearing, and it was only when his fingers closed on air that his brain caught up with his reflexes. "Just what are _you_ doing alive, Commander?!" he demanded, stepping between Rau and Lacus. "And what are you doing _here?!"_

Murrue winced. "Athrun, wait. It's not what you-"

Rau raised a hand. "It's quite all right, Murrue," he said quietly. "Athrun's reaction is perfectly reasonable, considering the… circumstances of our last meeting." He met Athrun's gaze levelly. "I realize seeing me must be quite a shock, Athrun, given how thoroughly Falcon obliterated the area we were fighting in, two years ago. I'm sure you'll also be skeptical when I tell you that I'm not the man I once was."

"You're right," Athrun said in a low voice, muscles tense. "I _am_ surprised… and I'm definitely skeptical. Why should I believe a madman who tried to destroy all of humanity? The last time I saw you, you were gleefully ranting about killing my friends, as I recall."

The ex-ZAFT commander looked away. "Yes," he admitted, "I was. And believe me, I'm not asking you to forgive me; I certainly can't forgive _myself_ for what I did, under the influence of madness. But I'm telling the truth when I say that I've no intention of harming you… and that this time, I'm on _your_ side."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" The blue-haired pilot remained openly skeptical… and entirely ready to kill Rau with his bare hands if he had to.

Then Lacus gently reached out, and touched Athrun's arm. "Let's hear him out, Athrun," she said softly.

"But-" he protested, glancing at her in surprise.

"Think about it," she suggested. "Murrue brought him here… and from that uniform, he must be with Section Nine now. Do you think Falcon would've brought him back without a good reason?"

That brought Athrun up short. Ken DiFalco was arrogant, occasionally oblivious to his own health, and, from time to time, overconfident. Those traits had nearly gotten himself and many of his comrades killed on multiple occasions, most notably the battle that had brought _Odin_ into their group, along with certain poor personnel management decisions pertaining to Kira.

One thing that Ken was _not,_ however, was stupid. His reasoning might seem insane to other people from time to time, but he _did_ have a reason for every action he took.

"…All right," Athrun said at last, eyes locked on Rau. "Fine. I'll hear you out. But if something you say doesn't sound right…"

Rau actually managed a faint smile at that. "Considering that Falcon has already made that same threat, I believe I can assure you that I take it very seriously, Athrun." He reached up then, and took off his mask. "All right, then. Shall we get inside? It's a bit of a long story, and quite frankly I don't want to stand here all afternoon."

"It would be a good idea," Murrue put in, sighing inwardly in relief that the situation was no longer on the verge of becoming violent. "Ken will be home soon enough himself; as soon as he finishes whatever business he has with that 'Sasaki Kojiro' person. We might as well see about getting lunch ready while we talk."

* * *

DiFalco Residence, Dining Room

* * *

"So," Lacus began, once all were seated. "May I ask just how you came to be in this position, Commander? The last time anyone but Falcon saw Providence, you were following Preybird into GENESIS, and then the entire device exploded…"

Rau nodded. "Indeed. As Falcon has probably told you, we fought a duel inside GENESIS' core, with the end result being that both our machines were badly damaged. In the end, Falcon managed to fire his twin satellite cannon before I or the power surge could destroy him… and that's the last thing that I personally remember."

"As far as any of us knew at the time," Murrue put in from the adjoining kitchen, "that was the end of both Rau and Providence; certainly neither I nor Ken worried about it at the time. It happened, though, that _Odin_ made a sweep of the area just after we pulled Preybird aboard _Archangel,_ and located the remains of Providence."

"There couldn't have been much left of it by then," Athrun noted, still wary but fascinated nonetheless. "Being that close to a positron cannon firing at near-overload, followed by a serious of high-yield nuclear explosions…"

"Mostly just the cockpit," Rau confirmed. "The cockpit, and part of the backpack. As near as could be determined later, I was saved by a combination of Providence's heavy backpack, inadvertent shielding from Falcon's light-wave barriers, and pure luck. As it was, by the time Jason and the Admiral hauled me aboard, I was clinically dead."

"Clinically," Lacus repeated. "Like Falcon was, after Endymion?"

"There were similarities, yes," he said with a small smile. "Unlike Falcon, though, they didn't revive me on the spot. Instead, Admiral Halberton gave the order to put me into cryogenic stasis, where I remained until being transferred to Section Nine's headquarters, several months later. The intention was to study my genetic code –and that of Victor Tempest, whose body and severed head remain in stasis- to find out exactly what Hibiki did to me."

Athrun nodded thoughtfully. _That does sound like Falcon,_ he mused to himself. _Always studying everything, trying to gather as much information as possible…_ That trait had nearly gotten the man killed more than once, but it had served him well most of the time, regardless.

"So," Athrun said aloud, "how did you go from being cryogenically frozen to being someone Falcon actually trusts? Last I remember, he hated you… and with good reason."

"He did," Rau acknowledged. "As you say, with good reason. But this is where the tale is joined by three disparate elements: Sophia DiFalco becoming a minor expert on genetic modification and repair, Section Nine's discovery and theft of GAT-X105E Strike Noir, and Gilbert Durandal's election to the Supreme Council Chairmanship."

"Right," Murrue agreed, walking in and sitting down at the table herself. "Sophia had ended up learning a fair amount about genetics simply from her early studies of Metzinger's data, so she was a natural choice when Section Nine needed a part-time geneticist. That came in handy six months ago, when Ken's people learned of the existence of the 'Phantom Pain' unit. My understanding is that Ken's agents have never managed to definitively connect Phantom Pain with the Earth Alliance, but the suspicion was enough to make them nervous. That's partly why they gave Strike Noir to ZAFT, since they were, at the time, unaware of the Second-Stage program."

"That," Rau remarked, picking up the tale again, "is where things got complicated. When Falcon discovered that Gil had been elected, he became concerned; he didn't know much about Gil himself, but he was well aware that Gil was my personal physician, even if he never knew why. What he _did_ know was that his instincts told him that something wasn't right… so he decided to bring in an expert."

"Which meant you," Athrun said slowly, understanding dawning. "You were the only source he had on hand, so…"

"Yes." The ex-madman looked down at the table with a sigh. "I was the only one fully conversant with Gil's aims, so Falcon made the choice to repair and revive my body… and then, before allowing me to wake up, he set Sophia to the task of repairing me at the genetic level, which she succeeded at… and, in the process, managed to turn my biological age back to what it's supposed to be."

"Which explains why you look younger than we remember," Lacus put in thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Athrun agreed, eyes narrowing again. "But it doesn't explain why you're _sane."_

Rau shook his head. "According to Sophia, my insanity was partly caused by a chemical imbalance in my brain, which she, with the assistance of Section Nine's medical department, managed to correct. The rest of it… well, let me tell you, aging at the rate I was is a _highly_ painful experience, quite trying enough for any mind. I won't say that I instantly came to my senses after my telomeres were repaired –in fact, I was in therapy, under armed guard, for two months after my revival- but t did go a long way toward it."

"And then you agreed to help Falcon out?" Athrun said skeptically. "Just like that?"

"Athrun, just how do you think _I_ feel about what I did?" Rau demanded, sounding exasperated for the first time. "Remember the trouble Falcon had, after he realized what he'd created with GENESIS… and _he_ at least had good intentions. _I_ tried to destroy Earth, with the express intention of wiping out humanity. How do you think I feel about that now? Frankly, I sometimes wish Falcon had just let me stay dead." He sighed, vexation vanishing. "And so do a number of other people, I'm quite sure."

Murrue winced. She knew it wasn't really directed at her, and that even if it was, the man had a point, but still… "I'll admit I told Ken that he was crazy," she said quietly, "when he told me what he'd done. But in all honesty, so far you've done nothing to make us question your new loyalty. Besides, Ken was right in that he needed someone with in-depth knowledge of Durandal and his intentions."

"Maybe so… but still…" Rau twitched his shoulders, forcing the depressing thoughts out of his mind. "In any case, dwelling on that isn't going to get any of us anywhere."

"True enough," Athrun agreed, and leaned back in his chair as he pondered the situation.

It was true that, for the last few months of the War, he'd considered Rau Le Creuset to be an even greater threat than his father. Certainly his actions –or inactions- during the Battle of Alaska told against him; so did his use of the _Vesalius_ as an expendable pawn at Mendel… and, perhaps most importantly, his actions at Second Jachin.

Nonetheless, Athrun also remembered the earliest days of his time under Rau's command. His decision to use bunker-buster weapons at Heliopolis had been… questionable at best, yet he'd also been understanding regarding Athrun's problem fighting Kira, and Dearka Elsman's issues with Ken DiFalco. Doubtless he'd already been unstable at that point, but Athrun genuinely believed Rau had been sincere in at least those areas.

Finally, he turned to Lacus. "What do you think?" he asked quietly.

Lacus shrugged. "I would say… that everyone deserves a second chance," she said slowly, "if they're truly willing reform. Particularly when the deeds were prompted by insanity, rather than conscious malice." She looked at Rau. "I must admit, Commander, that even I will find it… difficult to come to terms with this. I'm willing to take that chance, though."

Athrun nodded in wary agreement. "I'm with Lacus on this, Commander. I hope you understand that I won't find it easy to forgive you for what you've done, however."

Rau smiled faintly. "Considering that I can't truly forgive _myself,_ Athrun, I'll take what I can get at this point. The only concession I'll ask from you now is that you not shoot me out of hand."

"Rau wouldn't be the only person irritated by that, either," a new voice interjected, as the house's front door opened. "If he turns out to need killing, Athrun, I'd rather do it myself; I didn't revive him for no reason, you know."

Smiling, Murrue rose to greet Ken as he stepped into the house. "What kept you?" she demanded, with mock irritation. "You _did_ say it would only take you an hour, didn't you?"

He half-smiled, gripping her arm affectionately. "I said it _shouldn't_ take me more than an hour; I didn't say I was certain of it, did I? I got sidetracked, that's all."

Rau snorted. "More likely, you just didn't want to be here to see Athrun nearly shoot me," he remarked sarcastically. "Right?"

"Hardly. I actually would've liked to have seen Athrun's face when you got out of the car." Ken shook his head. "No, the truth of the matter is, my meeting just went a little longer than I expected. Old Sasaki Kojiro had some… interesting things to say."

"And just who _is_ Sasaki Kojiro?" Murrue asked him, as they joined the others at the table. "You still haven't explained that, Ken."

"My old Master," he replied, settling into the chair next to Murrue's. "The man who taught me the Art of the blade, a long time ago. He's a Coordinator of an age I've never been able to determine, with a taste for swordplay, more wisdom than one of Tolkien's elves, and a habit of testing his students by jumping out of dark corners with a drawn sword." He shook his head. "He also happens to be a self-described ronin, with information sources I can't begin to fathom, and a past that I doubt anyone alive knows the truth of."

Athrun, for one, raised an eyebrow, but the description didn't really surprise him. _Figures that someone like that would've been the one to teach Falcon how to use that sword of his. The sword is such an archaic weapon I doubt many practitioners of the art are what you'd call "normal"…_

Murrue wasn't especially puzzled either; it at least explained where Ken had gotten his habit of being mysterious. "What _did_ your Master have to say, Ken?"

Ken shrugged. "Mostly giving me some answers I wouldn't have expected him to know. Turns out he knew Metzinger, and was actually on a first-name basis with the man; won't explain _how_ he knew him, of course. At any rate, according to him, my… poorer than expected performance in battle out there was due, at least in part, a gradual deterioration of my body. Not life-threatening," he hastened to add, before Murrue could even gasp, "but enough that I'm going to need to do some serious training to compensate. I'll still be better than ninety-nine percent of the pilots I'm likely to run into; I just won't be as _much_ better as I used to be."

"You nearly gave me a heart attack there, Ken," Murrue told him, concern in voice and expression. "I'm glad you were quick to note it wasn't killing you, but still… that doesn't sound like good news."

"Look on the bright side, Murrue," Rau advised. "Without inflating Falcon's ego unnecessarily –since doing that _does_ tend to get him into near-death situations- I should point out that not many pilots are up to his level in the first place. The only ones I know of who can seriously threaten him, except under extreme circumstances, are Kira Yamato and that Roanoke he encountered in orbit."

"Don't ascribe too much to my ability, Rau," Ken warned. "I have no fear at all of average mobile suits piloted by average soldiers, but there _are_ exceptions, like Hamilton, who are better than average… and there's the small matter that technology has advanced in the last two years. Preybird is no longer the most advanced mobile suit in existence. Several of its features remain unique, but a battle dominator it is not, these days. Besides, there's also Nightwing, which seems to be a pretty faithful copy of Preybird's original form."

The ex-ZAFT commander did have to concede that point. Several aspects of Preybird's structure were revolutionary, and currently known only to Section Nine, at least in theory… but neither ZAFT nor the Earth Alliance had been sitting still in the two years of uneasy peace. The New Millennium and Second-Stage series' were most definitely beginning to close the technological gap, and the new mass-production unit Hamilton had been flying was also clearly better than anything the Earth Alliance had previously fielded.

And, as Ken had noted, the Earth Forces also possessed Nightwing, which indicated they had a fair idea of exactly how Preybird was able to outmaneuver everything it met in battle. Rau doubted they'd be able to put most of those technologies into mass production –Preybird itself would represent a sizable fraction of Section Nine's yearly budget, for example- but even one or two such units would be a definite threat.

Nor could he completely discount Ken's caution about other pilots. In Rau's opinion, Hamilton didn't match up to even Athrun's skill, but he would easily have made redcoat status within ZAFT… and Neo Roanoke, whoever he was, _did_ appear to be a match even for Ken himself.

It was Murrue who finally broke the uncomfortable silence that had fallen on the room. "So, Ken," she began, deliberately changing the subject, "what's on your schedule for tomorrow? I expect you'll have a lot of meetings to take care of, in the wake of Junius Seven's fall."

Ken grimaced, though inwardly grateful for the change in topic. "You can say that again. I'll be dropping by the _Minerva_ first, make sure everything is going smoothly on their end –and if it's not, I have enough… influence in certain areas to smooth things over some- and then it's off to Section Nine branch headquarters, to check current intel. Rick Chung is currently in-country, using a military exchange program with the Equatorial Union as cover."

Athrun frowned thoughtfully. "Isn't Prime Minister Seiran trying to shut down the joint exercise? Something about 'consorting with rebels', or something like that?"

"Yeah," the ace confirmed. "You know that piece of slime has always taken the view that Rick and his people rebelled against 'the rightful government of the Equatorial Union', even though it was nothing more than a puppet government; Cagalli had to put her foot down to get them into Orb territory at all." He grimaced again. "Unfortunately, I rather suspect that, sooner or later, Unato's going to succeed in doing _something_ about the situation, so Rick's probably going to have to abandon his cover before long and get out aboard _Odin."_

"At least he'd be safe that way," Murrue put in. She was rather fond of the young man, having known him during her time as a schoolteacher before the War.

"Indeed. At any rate, that's probably going to be just about the high point of my day; after that, I need to meet with Cagalli and Unato, first as the Major, then as myself. Can't say _that's_ going to be fun, but that's a soldier's life, I suppose."

"Certainly the life _you_ chose, Falcon," Rau agreed. "My understanding was that you didn't _have_ to accept this job, after all."

"True enough," Ken conceded. "But I wouldn't have been able to take the quiet life for too long. Too much time spent on the sharp end of the stick, and all that. Fortunately," he went on, more cheerfully, "I'll at least have a chance to rest before the situation really starts to heat up again. The last six months have been a bit… busy."

"True." Rau cleared his throat. "Ah, speaking of resting… Athrun, Miss Lacus, I'm afraid that part of the reason I'm here is that I was wondering if I might impose on you and Reverend Malchio? At the moment, staying in the public eye doesn't seem like a very good idea…"

Across the table, Ken and Murrue shared an amused look at the expression on Athrun's face.

* * *

Morgenroete Harbor Facility, Lounge, October 11th, C.E. 73

* * *

When Ken DiFalco entered the Morgenroete facilities the morning after arriving in Orb, he stopped almost instantly, head cocked to one side. _Is that… music?_ he thought, straining his ears. _Yes… but who…? And why, for that matter?_

He shook himself, shaking off the incipient spell the music cast over him. He'd come back to _Minerva_'s docking area for a reason… one somewhat different from the one he'd given Murrue and the others. One which explained why Griever was stuck through his belt, ready at hand. _Now, if can just figure out where she is… well, I suppose I might as well follow the music, for now. Knowing her, she'll be somewhere near it._

Being something of a musician himself –though he preferred a violin to the piano he seemed to be hearing- Ken had no trouble at all zeroing in on the source of the music. The ethereal sound led him away from _Minerva_'s dock, toward a lounge within the Morgenroete facility itself.

When Ken finally stepped into the lounge himself, his eyebrows went up. Several of _Minerva_'s crew were present, including Shinn Asuka –leaning against a wall, looking more relaxed than the ace had yet seen him- while, at a high-quality synthesizer, Millenia Crescent's hands played across the keys, while an approving Rey Za Burrel watched from a nearby chair.

Millenia smiled faintly at the pilot as he entered, and it was then that the pieces came together for him. _Anata ga Ita Mori,_ he thought, recognizing the melody. _That's right… she always did enjoy that song, and she always was a fine piano player… though I suspect it took her a month or two to accustom herself to playing it in that new body._

Rather than immediately speaking up, Ken chose to lean against a wall himself, and wait for Millenia to finish the piece. Truthfully, he found it relaxing himself, and with a new War looming ahead of them, he chose to savor that relaxation while he could… and remember…

_When was the last time I heard this?_ Ken mused, closing his eye. _It's been… three years now, I think. When the Alaska Declaration was made, and the three of us knew it would be only days before the War began… I think that was the last real day of peace for us, before we finally ended the War… one of the last days Laura and I spent together…_

Millenia's fingers slowed, and finally stopped, several minutes later. "Glad you could join us, Falcon," she greeted with a smile. "I wasn't really expecting to see you today; I figured you had business of your own."

"I do," Ken admitted. "But I thought I'd drop by on my way to work." Glancing about at _Minerva_ crew members scattered about the room, he smiled faintly in amusement as they roused themselves from the semi-conscious state they'd allowed themselves to slip into. Like him, they knew peace would be a precious luxury in coming months… "I knew you were good with the piano," he went on, "but I wasn't aware you were moonlighting as a hypnotist, amigo."

Surprisingly, it was Shinn, not Millenia, who replied to him. "It… reminded me of my childhood, Major," he said slowly. "Happier times…"

"Happier times, indeed…" agreed Millenia while looking at Falcon, who felt a slight knot in his stomach at her implied words, "If not for the first war, I think I would've been a fine pianist."

The ace nodded thoughtfully at Shinn. "Understandable, Shinn. And probably a very good thing, considering the circumstances we find ourselves in now. However…" He looked back at Millenia. "You've obviously kept up your musical talents, Millenia. But how are your sword skills?"

She smiled slowly. "You suggesting we show these flyboys how _real_ warriors fight, Falcon?"

"I am," Ken acknowledged, laying a hand on Griever's hilt. "Besides, we could both use the exercise, wouldn't you say?"

"You're on." Millenia reached down, and lifted the sword that lay next to her on her chair. Like Ken's, the hilt and scabbard color matched that of her red uniform; and, like Ken's, it had been forged years earlier, by Tom Delaney, of the same metal used in a Gerbera Straight. "Shinn, Rey, all of you stand back. You don't want to get hit by an errant slice, believe me."

Shinn nodded, and the others scattered, pulling most of the room's furniture with them to give the two plenty of room. _This should be interesting,_ Shinn thought to himself, as his commander and her teacher squared off, bowing. _The hero of Jachin, and his protégé… but how much blood is going to end up on the walls in the process?_

He allowed his thoughts to trail off, as the two straightened. "'I am the bone of my sword,'" Ken quoted, Cyclops-like gaze meeting his protégé's. "'Steel is my body, and fire is my blood.'" He gripped Griever's hilt in a carefully measured hold.

"'I have created over a thousand blades,'" Millenia answered, continuing the creed Sasaki Kojiro had originally taught to Ken. "'Unknown to death…'" Her cybernetic fingers gripped the hilt of her own weapon.

"'…Nor known to life….'"

"Have withstood pain to create many weapons…'" Ken pulled out Griever, reflecting as he did so how true those words were, for the both of them.

"Yet, these hands will never hold anything.'" Millenia's own weapon came out in a flash.

Ken swept his right foot behind his left, and drew back his blade in a two-handed grip, holding it vertically at eye level. "'So, as I pray…'"

Millenia swept her own left foot back, and raised her sword above her head, tip angled toward the floor… and the two of them stepped forward, finishing the creed simultaneously:

"'_Unlimited Blade Works!!!'"  
_

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

_Minerva_ and _Odin_ arrive in Orb, and in the wake of the terrible damage wrought by Junius Seven's fall, the two crews finally have a chance to rest. Though elements within the government work against both ships, they have the breathing space they will desperately need before the coming conflict.

In the midst of the colony drop's aftermath, those involved take the time to unwind… and as they do, Ken DiFalco learns more of his own past, and of the potential threats in his future… to which end he tests his greatest student, in the art based down by the enigmatic swordmaster Sasaki Kojiro…

Okay, I admit this chapter is a bit slow; slower than I expected, in fact. Unfortunately, some necessary background ended up taking longer than I'd expected, so some things have been shoved back till next chapter. Next time, I can assure you that there'll be a fair amount of political intrigue; this chapter was a required stepping stone to reach that point.

Hopefully, it was at least mildly interesting; I did introduce some new elements, a new character –whose role will be fairly important- and a bit more of Ken's backstory.

Next chapter will expand on that a bit more, including exactly why Ken chose to challenge Millenia when he did.

In the meantime, please let me know how this chapter was. After that, I return to A Call to Arms, for an update that shouldn't irritate me nearly as much as the last… -Solid Shark


	9. Chapter 9: Solstice

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

Also, all references to characters and events from the Equatorial Union Civil War are property of Ominae; for further information, see his story "Rebellion"

* * *

Morgenroete Harbor Facility, Lounge, October 11th, C.E. 73

* * *

Blades clashed together, in a ring of metal on metal, and then spun apart again in a whirl of reflected light. 

Of those present –and standing as far from the center of the room as possible- Shinn Asuka watched more closely than anyone, as it was his commander and his role model that dueled before them, each wielding a mirror-polished katana, their hilts red cloth braided over shark skin, their blades forged of a metal far stronger than steel.

One was held by a man with an eyepatch, wearing a trench coat; this blade was Griever, and her wielder was a lithe young man with a scarred face and past, a man who moved with fluidity, speed, and understated power.

The other was gripped by a woman in ZAFT red, face unmarred… but body beyond anything her subordinates might've guessed; this weapon's name was known to few, as befitted the woman with the mysterious body, who fought with a speed that rivaled Griever's bearer, and a strength that was held in check far more carefully than any but her opponent could've known.

They both moved with a speed that defied detection by the human eye, and only his Coordinator enhancements allowed Shinn to keep track of the movements at all.

Even so, he didn't truly understand them. Not a devotee of the sword, he saw but did not completely comprehend as Ken DiFalco's sword whipped up in a powerful backhand slash toward Millenia Crescent's throat, only to be caught halfway by her blade, stopping it at the precise midpoint between them.

_This is crazy,_ Shinn thought, watching Section Nine's "Major" whirl away from the clash, ducking beneath the powerful blow Millenia aimed at him in return. _Doing this with live blades… one wrong move, and they could kill each other!_

Nonetheless, he could no more look away than anyone else, as Ken returned to the offensive with a series of whirling slashes, inscribing circles in the air from his right hip up to around his left shoulder as he advanced, his footsteps like a choreographed dance. Any one of the fast-paced cuts would've decapitated anyone unwary enough to get in reach… but Millenia "Black Widow" Crescent was anything but unwary.

She swayed forward, dipping below the vicious circling, and whipped her blade up in a wicked slash, starting just above the floor and slamming the flat of the sword into Griever's descending edge. The blow ought to have knocked Griever clean out of Ken's hands… but he rode with the movement, letting his arm ride up along with it, and leapt, his sudden backflip both saving his grip and lifting him over Millenia's sweep at his legs.

The ex-ZAFT ace came down in a crouch, his right arm already flashing out to the side in a motion similar to what Millenia had just attempted. Unlike him, she chopped viciously, slapping Griever down into the carpet, and leaving Ken vulnerable for a precious instant.

Shinn's eyes widened as Ken responded by dropping clear to the floor himself, then recovered his blade and rolled to his right just in time to avoid being bisected. _Whoa,_ Impulse's pilot thought, genuinely impressed by the display. _Is this a fight, or a dance?_

He began to think that, perhaps, swordplay really _was_ like a dance, as Ken contorted his body in a painful-looking twist, evading another strike from Millenia, then rolled onto his back, brought his legs over his hand, and dropped his boots onto Millenia's blade.

While she snatched her weapon back, his torso left the floor in sync with his feet touching down, and suddenly he was back into a guard position, blade held horizontal, with the hilt just to the left of his face.

Shinn was never certain who moved first after that. It seemed almost as though they were two bodies controlled by one mind, for at the moment Millenia's blade tore through the air in a blow meant to slip beneath Ken's guard, opening him from left shoulder to right hip, Ken took a single step forward, moving inside Millenia's reach, and dropped his left elbow down onto her left arm, forcing her blade to simply hiss through empty air.

_They're going at it like they really intend to kill each other,_ Shinn thought, gaze focused unblinkingly on the blur of flashing blades. _And… I can't even tell which one of them is going to win this. They're both dodging everything…_

Millenia suddenly lunged forward, her feet leaving the floor as her blade flashed in a swift arc from right to left, and Shinn realized that there were many more nuances and intricacies to true swordsmanship than even his experience with Impulse's Sword Silhouette had taught him. The intricate combat between the two veterans was lethal and at the same graceful, entering a realm no firefight could ever achieve.

Despite Millenia's apparent advantage in speed, Ken nonetheless sidestepped in time… and Rey Za Burrel ducked just in time to avoid being decapitated himself. Looking slightly sheepish –and like he suddenly had more adrenaline than blood flowing in his veins- he carefully backed even farther away from the sparring match.

It was Ken's turn to reclaim the offensive, as Millenia spun away from her subordinate. Body turned sideways toward Millenia, knees bent, sword held horizontally at face level and pointed at her, he skittered forward and jabbed at her, in a blow that would've gutted her had it connected.

She responded by lashing out with her foot, catching her teacher in the gut, and then cart wheeling away from him, while he grunted, took a step back, and snapped his blade into a guard position while he recovered his breath.

What happened next had Shinn holding his breath, fully expecting to see Ken DiFalco fall in two bloody pieces.

Apparently having decided to finally end it, Millenia leapt as high as the room's ceiling would permit, katana raised over her head for a chop that would surely bisect the ex-ZAFT ace, and brought the blade down with the speed of a striking snake-

Shinn's eyes could hardly follow the next motion. It happened so quickly he doubted a Natural could even have registered it, but he did.

In the instant before his protégé's blade could strike him, Ken's blade flashed up, then came down and slightly to his left, forcing her weapon down with it… then came back up, forming a "V" shape, and the flat of his katana hit home on Millenia's arm, causing her to lose her grip on her own blade.

Then, in one last, flashing motion, Griever came back to the right and pressed against her throat.

The trio of slashes had happened in half a second.

For a moment, there was utter silence and stillness in the room, as the watching ZAFT soldiers stared at the tableau, stunned by the sudden, completely unexpected reversal. One instant, it appeared as though a body would be on the floor… and the next, _Minerva_'s mobile suit commander was disarmed and at the mercy of Section Nine's leader.

Then Ken smiled faintly, withdrew his blade, and slid her neatly into the scabbard on his belt. The two combatants then stepped back, and bowed respectfully, as though it were nothing more than a routine sparring match.

_But then,_ Shinn thought numbly, _maybe it _was…_ for them._

"Impressive, Falcon," Millenia remarked, breaking the silence that had blanketed the room since the duel began. "I wasn't expecting that last move… The Tsubame Gaeshi, wasn't it? The Swallow Reversal?"

"That's right," Ken confirmed, and bent to pick up her fallen blade. "You almost had me yourself, you know," he went on, handing the weapon back.

"I thought I _did_ have you," she admitted, sheathing the sword. "I was just about to turn the blade and hit you with the flat when you pulled off that stunt. Such speed…"

"That's the idea." It was then that Ken noticed the stunned expressions surrounding them, and he raised an eyebrow. "What, did you people really think the master would lose to the pupil? Millenia only began studying the Art after a… mutual friend introduced us. _I,_ on the other hand, have been studying it since childhood."

"It would've been different if we'd been fighting for real," Millenia pointed out… and though her tone merely puzzled her fellow ZAFT soldiers, it caused her teacher's eye to narrow. He knew that tone… and the expression that said, _You know I was holding back._

"You're right," Ken said after a moment, meeting her gaze levelly. "If we'd been fighting for real, the second slash would've taken your right hand off at the wrist, and the third would've removed your head."

She nodded fractionally, understanding the subtext. _If this had been real,_ his voice and manner told her, _I wouldn't have let it get this far._

It was then that Millenia understood the entire purpose of the exercise… the entire reason Ken had come here today. It was true that he was interested in seeing how she was doing… but it was because he evaluated her as a potential threat, and though she had held back, he had clearly gained at least a rough estimate of her full ability.

And in return, he was warning her that taking _him_ lightly would result in a swift death.

It didn't surprise the woman known as the Black Widow as much as it should have. Once, they'd been so close that the very idea would've been unthinkable… but that had been before Endymion occurred, the change the Bloody Valentine Tragedy had done to Ken DiFalco and before Project GENESIS forced him to desert from ZAFT for the sake of the world.

It was before his convictions brought him into direct, mortal combat with his former comrades in ZAFT.

Millenia didn't want to believe that such a thing could happen again. ZAFT had changed, she knew, since Sparky Cooper and the _Arkbird_ killed Patrick Zala and most of his cronies in ZAFT itself; there should no longer have been any reason for Ken to be in conflict with them.

Still… she had been uneasy ever since learning that Ken was, in fact, the leader of Section Nine… and even now had no intention of returning to ZAFT. That told her that he considered ZAFT a potential enemy, and that meant she was, as well.

And so with that tiny nod, Millenia acknowledged his wordless statement. _Message received, Falcon… but may we never find out for real…_

Oblivious to the subtext, Rey stepped away from the wall, and began moving furniture back into place. "Impressive display," he commented. "Though being almost decapitated was… unnerving, Commander Crescent."

Millenia turned her attention to the younger pilot, inwardly grateful for the distraction, and snorted. "I had a hunch you'd duck, Rey; and if you hadn't, I would've checked the blow. Think of it this way: no matter how many precautions you take, friendly fire will always be a danger on the battlefield. Consider this an exercise in avoiding it."

Rey twitched his shoulders, moving a couch back to its original position… and inwardly, he was mildly bemused. _This is the woman Gil is considering for the lead role in Section Nine's eventual defeat? She seems too… cavalier about the possibility of damaging friendly units…_

Shinn, oblivious to Rey's thoughts –and, indeed, to his fellow pilot's true role in ZAFT affairs- gazed thoughtfully at Ken, who had drawn Griever again and was now inspecting her for damage from the match. "Com- er, Major," he began, frowning, "wasn't that… dangerous?"

Ken glanced up. "Dangerous?" he repeated, sheathing Griever once more. "How so?"

"You were fighting with live blades," Shinn pointed out. "One wrong move, and either one of you could've died."

The ace rubbed his eyepatch thoughtfully. "It's part of my training philosophy," he said, after a moment's consideration. "No training is genuinely without risk; if it is, it isn't worth much. As a… friend of mine could attest, even simulators and trainers can have unfortunate accidents. That said, a live blade is more realistic than any practice sword, however well-crafted. There are certain things that simply can't be accurately duplicated with wood or synthetics. However," he continued, glancing at Millenia, "you should also remember that Millenia and I are both skilled practitioners already; we know how to stop our blades before they connect, should our opponent fail to block it. You'll note I did that when I demonstrated the Tsubame Gaeshi. What we just demonstrated is _not_ how I would have fought with a newcomer to the Art. In that event, we _would_ have used practice blades."

"Indeed," Millenia agreed. "Oh, it certainly _was_ risky, Shinn, I won't deny that. It was also born of confidence in our abilities, however… and in each other's."

Shinn nodded thoughtfully. _That's right,_ he reminded himself, _they're both veterans… and rumor has it that Commander DiFalco used his skill with one of those more than once, during the War. Huh… is that what made him so effective on the battlefield?_

Ken, guessing the direction of the young pilot's thoughts, noted, "It's a handy skill to have. We may be pilots, but pilots can be shot down, and at other times become involved in combat while away from their machines. Moreover, though the control systems necessitate certain modifications, skill with a sword can be translated into skill in a mobile suit. I used a variant of the Art my master taught me while flying combat, back in the War." He turned toward the lounge door. "I'm afraid we'll have to finish this conversation at a later time; after the mess with Junius Seven, I have a great deal of work to do, and an unfortunately tight schedule today. But," the ace added over his shoulder, "you should remember this, Shinn: for a soldier, it's never a waste of time to learn a new skill. If nothing else, it'll keep your mind flexible… and it'll also teach you discipline, which is one of the most important qualities for a soldier."

Then the pilot was gone in a flutter of gray trench coat, leaving Shinn lost in thought… and Meyrin Hawke –heretofore silent and almost still- somewhat perplexed. "Does he always leave like that?" she asked, glancing at Millenia.

The older woman smiled faintly. "Like a mystery man out to solve the secrets of the universe, you mean? Yeah, he's been like that as long as I've known him. I don't think he was ever entirely normal…"

* * *

Orb Union, Clyne Residence/Reverend Malchio's Orphanage

* * *

Mu La Flaga, former Earth Alliance Forces lieutenant commander, former True ZAFT "redcoat", and all around ace pilot, was more than a little bemused as he walked up toward the door of the house inhabited by Reverend Malchio, his orphans, Athrun Zala, and the Clyne family. _I wonder what on earth is going on?_ he thought to himself, shaking his head. 

An hour earlier, he'd gotten a phone call from his old captain –and soon-to-be sister-in-law- Murrue Ramius, suggesting that he should drop by the property shared by the DiFalco and Clyne houses… without bothering to explain exactly why. She'd simply said that there was someone staying with them that he ought to see.

_And she sounded really strange when she said it,_ Mu reflected, stopping at the door. _I wonder why… and who could it be that I'm supposed to be meeting? All the old gang is right here in Orb, so it can't be one of them… and Rick Chung is off doing Falcon's business at the HQ, so who…?_ He frowned, abruptly noticing a familiar sensation in his mind. _Someone with heightened spatial awareness…? The only people I know with that are Falcon, Kira, and Morgan, and none of them could be here…_

Shrugging inwardly, knowing that he'd soon get to the bottom of the matter, Mu raised a hand and rapped lightly on the door.

A few moments later, it opened, revealing a blonde-haired man with a mustache, looking to be in his late forties. "Ah, there you are, Mu," the man greeted with a smile. "Murrue said she'd called you, so I thought you'd be turning up soon."

"You thought right, Siegel," Mu said, smiling in return at the former politician. "Can't say I have any idea _why_ I'm here, but here I am anyway. Guess I'm a sucker for mysteries."

Siegel Clyne chuckled. "Runs in the family, I suppose; though your father and brother both seem to prefer creating them to solving them. Come on in."

Following the older man into the house, Mu glanced around curiously. Several children were wandering about, sometimes a bit faster than was technically safe; their presence was hardly a surprise, though, since Mu was perfectly well aware of Malchio's move to Orb after the reconstruction began in earnest.

He also caught sight of Lacus Clyne, sitting in a room on one side of the hallway; she smiled at him as he passed, and then resumed singing quietly to another group of children.

"Looks like everyone's doing all right," he remarked after a moment, as they neared the living room. "But where's Athrun? I haven't seen him yet."

"At Morgenroete," Siegel explained, "working with Captain Gladys and Mr. Trine on _Minerva_'s repairs. It's a big job, or so he tells us, so he's going to be busy for the next few months. Not that he minds, I think; it's taken him a long time to adjust to civilian life again, and he still likes to keep busy when he can."

Mu nodded in understanding. "I know what that's like. Sophia and I have both had more than a touch of that ourselves." He glanced curiously at the older man. "So… I don't suppose _you _know what I'm doing here?"

Siegel smiled enigmatically. "As a matter of fact, I do," he acknowledged, opening the living room door. "And because I know, I know to ask you this: please don't shoot up the walls."

The last survivor of the Earth Alliance's Moebius Zero corps blinked, bemused by the non sequitur. "Shoot up the walls…?" he started to repeat… and then saw who was waiting for them on the other side of the door.

"Hello, Mu," Rau Le Creuset said quietly, sitting in an armchair with a faint smile on his face. "It's been a while."

Mu froze, stopping in his tracks so quickly that he almost fell over. _It can't be,_ a corner of his mind insisted, as his gaze locked on the formerly-masked man. _It can't be! He's dead! Falcon killed him two years ago, at Second Jachin… and even if he hadn't, there's no way Rau Le Creuset would be sitting in Siegel Clyne's living room like it was the most natural thing in the world!_

As Siegel had implied, Mu did indeed want to go for the gun he wasn't wearing, and instinctively –not having time to think it through consciously- regretted that he was technically a civilian now, and thus no longer carried a sidearm everywhere. The sight of his old nemesis, his –and his friends'- worst enemy during the War, was quite enough to make him long for a weapon, any weapon, to finish the job that Ken clearly hadn't done quite properly.

Rau easily picked up on the general direction of Mu's thoughts, and his smile turned wry. "Before you try to strangle me with your bare hands, Mu," he said conversationally, "you probably ought to know that it was Falcon himself who made the decision to revive me."

That succeeded in breaking through Mu's paralysis… but it made him even more confused by the same token. "He what?"

"He gave the order to revive me," Rau repeated, "from the cryogenic stasis Section Nine had kept me in since the end of the War. I've been working for Section Nine for the last six months, as their resident expert on the motives and methods of Gilbert Durandal."

Mu's fists clenched. "Impossible!" he snapped. "Falcon _killed_ you, Le Creuset; there's no _way_ he'd bring you back, after what you did!" His confusion having finally turned to anger at Rau's very survival, he stepped quickly to a small table, pulled out a drawer, and snatched out the eleven-millimeter autopistol he knew Athrun kept there.

He had just snapped it on target, with his finger tightening on the trigger to send a bullet right between Rau's eyes, when the younger man finally spoke again. "Go right ahead, if that's what you want, my old enemy."

Mu hesitated, surprised by the quiet response. "…What?" he said intelligently.

"I said go ahead," Rau repeated. "I'm not sure I'd recommend it, considering that there are children nearby, but if you truly want to kill me… then I'm not going to stop you. I thought long and hard about doing it myself, after Sophia cured me. In the end, I couldn't bring myself to, but I'll not stop _you_ if you believe it to be the right course. Certainly the crimes I committed in the throes of madness deserve nothing but death…"

_What on earth is going on here?_ Mu wondered, frowning in confusion. _That bastard ought to be _taunting_ me; sure, maybe he'd tell me to go ahead and kill him, but he'd be mocking… and getting ready to fight back. Instead, he's just sitting there, calmly suggesting that I kill him…_

"You sound almost… sane," Mu said warily, lifting the pistol a tiny fraction off-target. "And that just doesn't seem right, Le Creuset. The last time I saw you, you were raving like a madman… and just a few minutes after that, Falcon blew you to atoms."

"I don't blame you for being surprised," Rau said sagely. "And I imagine you're a bit surprised at my… newfound youth, as well as by my sanity. I assure you, however, that there is an explanation for everything… if you'll refrain from shooting me long enough to hear me out." He cracked a small smile then. "Besides, in your rush to finish me off, you've forgotten that Athrun keeps the ammunition on the top shelf of that bookcase."

Mu blinked, glanced at the pistol's grip, and winced. As Rau had said, the weapon's magazine well was a gaping hole, leaving him with a marginally effective club. _Oops,_ he thought, chagrined. _Of course he doesn't keep it loaded; too many kids in this place… which might be a good thing. It's obvious that whatever is going on here, Falcon had _something_ to do with it, and I don't think he'd appreciate it if I ventilated the guy without at least thinking about it first…_

"All right," he said finally, carefully setting aside the empty pistol, "talk. But it better be good, Le Creuset, or so help me I _will_ get that ammo…"

"And shoot me dead," Rau finished, still smiling faintly. "Yes, that's about the reaction I expected out of you. As I said, I don't blame you, after everything that happened two years ago. It's something of a long story, though, so I suggest you sit down…"

* * *

Section Nine Local Headquarters, Orb Union, The Major's Office

* * *

Containing a sigh of weariness only with difficulty, Ken DiFalco slid neatly into the chair behind his equally neat desk, stretched, and carefully pulled off his gasmask. While operating under the persona of the Major, he only removed the mask in his sanctum sanctorum, where no prying eyes –even government ones- were allowed. 

Furnished in a style that reflected the tastes of its owner, the office contained exactly four pieces of furniture: Ken's desk, his swivel chair, and two chairs on the other side of the desk, for visitors. The rest of the room's space was open and tidy, in keeping with the ex-ZAFT pilot's preference for order.

The walls were a slightly different story. Being an aficionado of the martial arts, Ken kept a variety of weapons for décor, including a number of daggers, a pair of short swords, a quarterstaff, three sets of nunchaku, a set of sais… and ten curved, meter-long swords, with crimson hilts and scabbards. Each katana had once belonged to one of the fallen Gray Demons, most of whom had perished in the Battle of Endymion; one had been recovered from the wreckage of Talia Coriolis' GINN, in a later battle on Earth… and the last, Requiem, had been taken from Victor Tempest's body, after Ken personally ended his student's agony.

The ten swords had been housed in that office since the building's completion, six months into the restoration of Orb; ever since the grim collection's inception, they had gone wherever the remnants of the Gray Demons based themselves, as a reminder of their fallen comrades. At another time, they might've been housed in the orbital base, and would again if the worst-case scenario came to pass, but for now, they remained where the unit commander lived.

Said unit commander was, at that moment, glorying in the simple pleasure of leaning back in his chair. The match with Millenia had left Ken more tired than he cared to admit, and he still had quite a long day ahead of him.

That fact was reconfirmed as reality intruded upon Ken's rest, in the form of a knock on the office's door. "Major?"

"It's open, Rick," Ken replied, not yet opening his eye.

The simple, wooden door swung open, and a young man around the same age as Ken himself stepped in. His features displaying mixed Chinese-Japanese heritage, he wore Equatorial Union uniform… a uniform which, while once legitimately his, now served as a cover for his true occupation, and his true allegiance.

"I've got the data you asked for, Major," Captain Richard Yamato Chung announced, moving to sit in the chair directly across from his boss. He dropped a folder on the desk. "The latest intel data, news reports, weather maps, and the best analysis I've been able to come up with."

"Gracias, Rick." Ken opened his eye, and leaned forward slightly. "I'll read the files later, but since I've got a meeting with Cagalli and the Prime Minister in a couple hours, I'd like a quick summary of the salient points."

"You got it," Kira's cousin agreed cheerfully, and frowned, collecting his thoughts. "Well, first off, this is an even more complicated situation than our rebellion, two years ago. I never thought I'd miss those days, but I have to admit, it was easier leading rebel troops in an uprising than figuring out the rat's nest in the Atlantic Federation… not to mention here in Orb."

"Tell me about it," the Major concurred tiredly. "It was bad enough when I had to worry about planning the entire ZAFT military strategy; back then, I could at least leave the political angle up to Patrick. I guess this is 'compensation' for my little vacation with you people in the Philippines… So, what've we got?"

Rick leaned back in his chair. "Trouble on all fronts," he said quietly. "As you've heard by now, there were over a billion casualties worldwide; what wasn't hit by debris directly got smashed by environment hazards triggered by the colony drop. A chunk of Athens is gone, Rome and the Vatican were wiped off the map, and Beijing just plain isn't there anymore. There's also a new inland sea forming in part of the Sahara, tsunamis took out Los Angeles, and a debris-induced earthquake managed to set off Vesuvius, with predictable results. Those are the highlights of the damage situation, anyway."

Ken winced. "Now I remember why I don't like planets. Space colonies don't have to worry about tsunamis, earthquakes, _or_ volcanoes… What about political and military interests? And public opinion, for that matter?"

"Public opinion is… divided," Rick admitted. "Even the Equatorial Union is split on this one; a lot of people from the PLANTs helped us get rid of those collaborators in Chua's government… but it's hard for them to ignore something as big as _this."_ He took a deep breath. "Outside of that, the Atlantic Federation's reaction was fairly typical. A fair-sized minority thinks they should give the PLANTs a chance this time, but the majority are screaming bloody murder. And their government, of course, is talking about this 'World Security Treaty Organization', with the idea of everybody 'joining hands to secure the future of Earth'." His voice fairly dripped contempt.

His current boss didn't blame him. Having participated in the Equatorial Union Civil War as a volunteer, before Section Nine was formally established, Ken had finally seen for himself what "alliance" with the Atlantic Federation and its fellows really meant. It hadn't been exactly brutal, but the utter disregard President Chua's government had for the people's opinion of the alliance had infuriated him. It was because of that realization that Ken had gone from being a simple mission planner for most of the civil war to acting as a sniper, covering Rick and his unit as they charged Chua's hideout. He was not, by any means, a fan of firearms, but that didn't mean he didn't know how to use them, and in that one battle he'd acted without any hesitation at all.

"I've already heard a bit about the WSTO proposal," Ken said after a moment. "Athrun mentioned yesterday that Orb's government has been discussing it already."

"They have," Rick confirmed, expression grim. "Seiran's behind it, of course; you know how they've been ever since Athha blew himself up. Unfortunately, there's a faint but noticeable trend in _popular_ opinion toward the proposal, as well."

The ace closed his eye. "Idiots," he breathed. "The Atlantic Federation virtually obliterated this country two years ago, with Azrael's nuclear strike… How can they think that allying with those same people is a good idea? Copeland is still the Atlantic Federation president, Blue Cosmos is as strong as ever… Don't they understand what signing that treaty would mean?"

"I don't think they do," the Equatorial Union native said slowly. "You have to remember, Major, Orb was never under the Earth Alliance's yoke the way my country was. There just weren't enough people left on the islands themselves by then, so they never really saw for themselves what it's like. I think all that they're seeing is that a treaty with the Atlantic Federation would mean they wouldn't see another nuclear attack on their homeland."

Ken shook his head. "How shortsighted of them… It's true that taking the Earth Alliance's side would avoid another nuclear attack –even now, ZAFT would never consider using nukes- but right now, Orb would be one of the first targets for ZAFT in that kind of situation. Carpentaria Base is closer to Orb than any Earth Alliance staging point, especially with the Equatorial Union removed from the equation; if I know the ZAFT bigwigs, they'd launch an orbital drop on Orb almost first thing, just to get it out of the way. It wouldn't be as devastating as a nuke, true, but there would definitely be collateral damage."

"I know," Rick said with a nod, "but civilians don't think these things through as much as we do, Major; not the majority of them."

Left unspoken was the possibility that allying with ZAFT would, in the long term, be no better for Orb; though they both believed it to be a wiser choice in the short term, Rick knew Ken had grave concerns about Gilbert Durandal's motivations… and also knew that the Major had contingency plans in the event that Section Nine needed more resources and manpower than merely their own to fight the coming war.

"Well," Ken mused, leaning back in his chair again, "I believe that's all I need to know about foreign and domestic public opinion: it's rotten. So, what about the military situation?"

"Mildly chaotic," Rick replied promptly. "You know all about Orb's situation, of course; as for ZAFT, though, we've finished analyzing the data Tom and Leanne brought back from Armory One."

That got the ace's attention. "You have? So what've we got?"

"Not too much that we didn't already know; mostly a detailed analysis of the relative capabilities of their new machines. But," Rick said, face intent, "we did find one new file: there's a fifth Second-Stage prototype."

Ken's eye narrowed. "A fifth… Durandal originally spoke of only three when showing Cagalli and Kira around, and then the Impulse turned up… and now this. Any idea why it wasn't included in the original press release?"

"Probably because it isn't finished yet," the other man said with a shrug. "Seems to have fallen behind the others, so it won't be ready for a few months yet. ZGMF-X23S Saviour: a transformable unit, that seems to be derived from the Aegis and Justice designs… though from the tech specs, it's even faster. Not quite on the level of the Regenerate, but fast. No pilot had been selected as of when Tom hacked these files, but there was a list of potential candidates. I think you know one of them: Heine Westenfluss."

The Major nodded slowly. "Westenfluss… yes, I'm familiar with him. He graduated after I deserted from ZAFT, but Morgan had a run in with him at Second Jachin, after which Alicia took a shot at him. I actually met him briefly, back when we were both helping the EURM. Hot pilot, cool under pressure… The impression I got is that he's like me, but with warm feelings added."

Rick smirked. "Nice self-description, Major; but if you ask me, I'm not sure that's good or bad. If your worries about ZAFT are right…"

"I know, the last thing we need is good ZAFT pilots. Believe me, I know." Ken rubbed his eyepatch, thinking briefly of Millenia, and then turned his mind to another matter. "All right, then. What do we know about the current military capabilities of the Earth Alliance and Logos?"

"That actually worries me more than ZAFT," Rick admitted, all trace of amusement vanishing from his manner. "To start with, there's Phantom Pain. We pulled their teeth six months ago, when we hit Greenland… but it looks like we didn't pull as many as we thought. You know better than I do about that new covert ops ship of theirs; we've since classified them as battlecruisers. Heavy firepower, but without the armor to really back it up. That's the good news; the bad news is that we know they've got more than one of them."

Ken sat up straight, expression intent. "You're certain?"

Rick nodded. "Yeah. Well, I guess I should say they _had_ more than one; they've probably got others, but the only other one we've identified is gone. It seems to have been involved in hampering Rondo Mina Sahaku, the Junk Guild, and Serpent Tail in a separate attempt to stop Sato's people. We're not quite sure what happened, but Lady Sahaku brought it to our attention, and noted that it blew up for no apparent reason. Self-destruct, we think, but nobody knows why."

The ace sighed. _Battlecruisers,_ he thought wearily. _Maybe they don't have the armor to last in a prolonged engagement, but that stealth capability is going to be a real problem. That's how they ambushed those ships at Armory One…_

"Okay," Ken said finally, "we know about the battlecruisers; and I certainly know they've got new mobile suits, after their stunt at Armory One. That sounds to me like Phantom Pain is more dangerous than we estimated, so we'll need to assign more resources to ferreting them out… What about mainline Earth Forces?"

"Bad," Rick said frankly. "We knew they'd been rebuilding since the War, but we didn't know how much. Well, we still don't –they're playing their cards close to the chest- but we've got a few hints, and they're bad. To start with, there's that prototype Hamilton was flying off Bogey One. We've now confirmed that Lieutenant Commander Allen C. Hamilton is indeed a member of the Earth Alliance military, and the prototype he was flying is something they're putting into mass production." He finally reached for the folder he'd dropped on the desk at the start of the meeting, and pulled out an intelligence memo. "We haven't been able to find out much about him, but we do know he served at Second Jachin. He was a survivor from the Fourth Fleet, piloting a 105 Dagger. After the War, he seems to disappear from the records; all we have is a brief reference to him in connection with something called 'Project Zeta'."

"That sounds entirely too much like a mobile suit development project," Ken said quietly, frowning. "I suppose it _could_ be something else, but if a mobile suit pilot like Hamilton –already flying a prototype- is connected with it, my money is on new mobile suits." He sighed. "I suppose it was inevitable, especially in the wake of the losses they suffered from Preybird two years ago, but still…"

Rick cleared his throat. "That brings me to the last confirmed piece of bad news," he said grimly. "Two days ago, we discovered a new _Archangel_-class mobile assault ship holding orbit at Lagrange point One."

* * *

Morgenroete Harbor, Office

* * *

"I'm still not sure this was such a good idea, Captain," Arthur Trine said nervously, looking out the window overlooking _Minerva_'s dock. "Receiving repairs from Orb, letting Orb technicians all over the ship… It's a major security risk, Ma'am, especially with the way the Orb government appears to be leaning at the moment." 

Talia Gladys, seated beside the office's desk, sighed to herself. _A competent enough officer,_ she thought to herself, not for the first time, _but a bit too "By the Book", and a bit lacking in the imagination department…_

"I know it's a risk, Arthur," she said patiently. "Frankly, I would've preferred to continue on to Carpentaria myself. However, we _did_ have an obligation to get Chief Representative Athha to Orb as soon as possible… and everything Commander Crescent and the Major said was correct: with war approaching, we'd be a sitting duck in Carpentaria. And, of course, there's no guarantee we'd have made it at all, what with the chance of an over-eager Earth Alliance command jumping the gun and taking us on. Not to mention the risk of being overcome by simple weather; with all the damage we took, I'm glad we took the shorter course. Had an unexpected storm come up, I'm not sure we could've weathered it."

Trine still looked troubled. "Maybe so," he conceded unwillingly. "But still… risky as making for Carpentaria might've been, isn't it even riskier to give Orb such open access to _Minerva,_ considering their current political leanings?"

Talia sighed. "I understand what you're saying, Arthur, and like I said, it wasn't my first choice, either. But as far as the potential for espionage is considered, I might remind you that the Earth Alliance already has the _Archangel_-class, and while the _Archangel_ wasn't as advanced as _Minerva,_ she would no doubt be fully as dangerous as our ship, especially in the hands of the original crew, or that of _Dominion._ I highly doubt learning _Minerva_'s secrets would make them substantially more dangerous. Moreover, they've already stolen three of the Second-Stage prototypes, which gives them nearly as much information as they could obtain from spies here in Orb."

"Captain Gladys is right, Mr. Trine," Alex Dino –better known to some as Athrun Zala- stated, walking into the room. "On both counts. My people and I have been going over _Minerva_'s hull with a fine-toothed comb, and while she was seaworthy even for calm weather, any decent-sized storm would've filled you with water so fast you'd have been gone in a couple of hours at most."

Talia turned to him, and winced. "It was that bad? I hadn't realized… which was probably fortunate for my peace of mind. You've finished the survey, then?"

Alex nodded. "We've done a general overview, anyway," he confirmed. "We'll know a bit more when we start opening up the worst of the damaged areas, but I know enough now to confirm my original estimate. I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere for four months, minimum."

"Four months?" Trine repeated. "By that time, war will be-"

"Almost certainly be in progress," Alex agreed grimly. "I know; I'm not exactly unfamiliar with the political situation, Mr. Trine, or with how these situations work. Still, the best we can do is the best we do. We'll be cutting as many corners as we can with any degree of safety, but rushing the job will only make things worse in the end."

Talia nodded, giving Trine a quelling look. _Four months,_ she thought to herself. _Just about the same estimate the Major gives until hostilities break out again… Will that give us enough time to join the initial battles ourselves, or will we have to wait it out?_

"I'm sorry, Captain," Alex said quietly, almost seeming to read her mind. "I know it isn't easy, sitting by as your comrades go off into battle."

She glanced at him curiously. "Personal experience, Mr. Dino?" _And I know I've seen his face somewhere before…_

He nodded. "You might say that. I was laid up with a broken arm and some blast injuries when Spit Break was launched. In the end, it was fortunate that I wasn't along for it, but at the time… Well, I'll admit that just then, a good battle would've done wonders to ease my mind. Distract me."

Talia looked at him shrewdly. _This man is no ordinary pilot,_ she thought to herself. _He had to have been one of True ZAFT's aces… and one of the more conflicted ones, from the sound of things. But who would've been injured just in time to miss Spit Break…?_

"Some personal issues?" she probed carefully, not at all sure the blue-haired youth would even answer.

"Something like that," Alex admitted, choosing his words with care. "A… friend of mine died not long before the operation was launched. We'd been close for a long time, so it hit me pretty hard; hard enough that there's actually a pretty good chance I would've been disqualified from the operation on a psychological basis, had I not been wounded anyway."

"I see…" Talia nodded to herself, noting what he revealed about his past… and what he _didn't_ reveal. "All right," she said after a moment, respecting his obvious preference for privacy, "so what do we have to take care of? I know about the hull breaches, and some of the other damage…"

Alex pulled out a pocket computer, similar to one that a certain eyepatch-wearing pilot had carried aboard _Archangel,_ two years before. "Well," he began, looking over the list, "first we've got a _lot_ of hull breaches; if it weren't for the airtight bulkheads, you'd have lost most of your air during reentry. As it was, those breaches allowed a fair amount of reentry heat in, burning several compartments and warping a couple of bulkheads."

"Yes, we did have a few problems with that on the way here," Trine noted, managing to shove aside his unease for the time being. "Several compartments were inaccessible after we landed."

"Right," Alex concurred. "That'll be one of our first repair priorities. Also, though, it looks like your last positron blast sent a power spike into the Tannhauser's positron bank; judging from the damage to the magnetic containment system, another shot would've blown _you_ up, instead of your target."

Talia winced. "The liabilities of antimatter weapons… Still, it couldn't be helped. No matter the risk to ourselves, Junius Seven _had_ to be stopped."

"I know," he agreed. "Believe me, Captain, I'm on ZAFT's side on this one. Still, it left you with a lot of damage, in the end. Your reactor chamber is also beginning to show the effects of repeated battles and rough reentry…"

* * *

Orb, Parliament Building, Chief Representative's Office

* * *

_So,_ Unato Ema Seiran thought, _perhaps now we'll get some answers… and, with a little luck, some rope with which to hang "the Major"._

He, along with his son, Cagalli herself, and Kira, were waiting for the enigmatic leader of Section Nine to arrive and make his report. Cagalli, for one, was merely interested in how her friend was going to respond to the forthcoming accusations. The Seirans, on the other hand, were waiting eagerly for the chance to finally put Section Nine in its place.

Preferably behind bars.

Somehow, none of those present were surprised when, precisely on time, Cagalli's secretary called over the intercom on her desk. _"The Major to see the Chief Representative,"_ the woman reported.

"Send him in," Cagalli said promptly. _And here's where the fun begins, I guess,_ she thought, exchanging a quick glance with Kira.

Typically, the Major's appearance was as precise as his timing when he stepped through the door. Brightly shined white boots –which Unato suspected used to be part of a ZAFT uniform- impeccably-tailored gray trench coat, fingerless black gloves… and, of course, the featureless, imposing gasmask that concealed his identity.

"Good evening, Lords and Lady," the Major greeted, voice distorted by his antique mask, and he bowed respectfully. "As requested, I've come to give my report on Section Nine's recent actions, and our analysis of the current global situation."

"Thank you, Major," Cagalli said gravely, slipping into a businesslike attitude with no trace of personal acquaintance with the imposing soldier. "Unato, I believe you wanted to start this meeting with several questions of your own?"

"Questions of grave important to Orb's government," Unato corrected smoothly, "but yes, they're also of some personal interest to myself." He turned in his chair, looking back at the Major (who had neither been offered a chair nor sought one himself; as was his habit, he would stand). "Perhaps you could begin by explaining, Major, why Section Nine did not even try to intervene in the recent terrorist action, which resulted in over one billion deaths worldwide?"

"Blunt and to the point," the Major observed, "as ever." His voice abruptly turned perceptibly colder. "Are you implying something, My Lord?"

"Of course not," Unato replied, unruffled. "I merely find it… interesting that your group managed to avoid any involvement at all in a scenario clearly falling within their charter, despite apparently being the first to become aware of it in the first place. Now, as I said, I'm not implying anything, but considering that it's an open secret many of your members are former True ZAFT, which was openly partisan to the PLANTs…"

"That, My Lord, _is_ an implication," the Major remarked, voice revealing nothing. "'PLANTs uber alles', is that what you're suggesting? I suppose it sounds logical on the surface… but let me remind you of something, My Lord: Commander DiFalco deserted from ZAFT and formed True ZAFT for the express purpose of _preventing_ this sort of atrocity. No member of _his_ organization would deliberately allow such an event to occur unchallenged." He tilted his head, focusing his hidden gaze on Orb's prime minister. "Now, could we perhaps continue this discussion without further accusations of crimes against humanity, My Lord?"

Cagalli hid a chuckle, and even Kira had to stifle a smile, as Unato blinked, mildly nonplussed by the soldier's calm refusal to be intimidated. "Very well," the nobleman said, after several moments of silent consideration. "I'll refrain from further discussion of the matter… for the moment, at least. Still, I'd appreciate an answer to the question."

The Major nodded fractionally. "The reason is twofold, My Lord. First, there was the possible propaganda angle: if Section Nine were seen to be involved in any way, it could've easily allowed the Earth Alliance to twist the facts into showing that we were somehow _responsible_ for it, much as they're now trying to frame the PLANTs. Now, that ordinarily would not have stopped us –certainly the protection of Earth is more important than merely our reputations- but the simple fact is that we couldn't have gotten _sufficient_ forces into the area in the time available."

"You've shown no difficulty in destroying terrorist groups in the past," Unato retorted, voice taking on a slight edge.

The soldier didn't appear to notice. "Different situation," he said calmly. "We were dealing with highly-skilled combat veterans… and the mass of a falling colony. That would've required nuclear weapons to make our presence worthwhile, and we only had one ship in range at the time. Under other circumstances, _Odin_ might've been sufficient, but because of our planned mission, we carried no nuclear missiles; the nearest ship that did was _Asmodeus,_ and she didn't arrive until a full day after the actual attack. Our base simply was in the wrong place at that time to launch a timely interception."

"I would think, Major," Yuna put in, speaking for the first time, "that even a single _Odin_-class escort ship would prove to be a significant asset in such a situation. Maybe you weren't carrying nuclear weapons, but _Odin_ is equipped with a positron cannon, isn't she? _Minerva_ used hers to significant effect, during the descent."

The Major tilted his head, considering how best to respond to the theory. _Simplest would be to simply point out that it's easy for him to say,_ he thought to himself. _I've never had much respect for armchair generals… Still, I suppose _some_ tact is in order. That family could cause all too many problems for us…_

"Perhaps so," he said at last. "But then again, perhaps not, either. For one thing, the only mobile suit we carried was Commander DiFalco's, as a courtesy; of our own units, all we had was a single Exus, which would have been of little use in a battle like that. That fact alone greatly reduced Section Nine's combat capability. As for _Odin_ herself, the situation was chaotic enough as it was. Her firepower was not worth the risk of being instantly destroyed by stray fire, or identified by the Earth Alliance and used for propaganda."

Unato leaned back in his chair, contemplating his options as he digested the reply. _He's good,_ he acknowledged unwillingly. _A soldier he may be, instead of a politician, but he's obviously had a few encounters with the political game in the past… Everything he's said has been all too reasonable, and difficult to refute…_

Before he could come up with a suitable retort of his own, Cagalli decided it was time to intervene. _At this rate, we'll be discussing the non-action of Section Nine all day, instead of what we're _supposed_ to be talking about._

"I suggest we table this matter, gentlemen," she said firmly, catching and holding Unato's gaze for several moments. "I remind you both that Section Nine operates at its own discretion; what they could or couldn't have done is their concern. It's also unimportant. While they might've been able to do _some_ good, one ship and a single mobile armor wouldn't have greatly altered the outcome… and what's done is done. Our main concern now is the fallout from the battle, wouldn't you agree?"

Unato hesitated for a long moment. _Blast Uzumi for leaving this girl in charge,_ he thought darkly. _She may be inexperienced, but she isn't easily manipulated… and her convictions are far too firm for her own good. Or for Orb's…_

It was, sadly, clear to him that Cagalli Yula Athha possessed in full measure the steel that underlay Uzumi Nara Athha's soul, and so with a mental sigh of resignation, he allowed the matter to drop. "Very well," he said, allowing no trace of his frustration into his face or voice.

Cagalli now turned to the Major herself, with her own inward sigh… though hers was more of relief. "All right, then. Major, we've already discussed this among ourselves, and with the General Staff, but I'd like your assessment of the current global situation, particularly as it pertains to Orb's position militarily."

"Of course," the Major said promptly. "As things stand… it could be better, but it could also very easily be much worse. As you should know as well as we do, Orb currently possesses the most advanced mass-production mobile suit; neither ZAFT's new ZAKUs nor the latest Earth Alliance Dagger variants can truly compete."

"But we also have far fewer than any other nation," Unato interjected. "'Quantity has a quality all its own'."

"Depends on the circumstances," the Major replied, unperturbed. "The strategic situation doesn't favor the Earth Alliance; the nearest base they have is the new Panama spaceport, and their flight-capable mobile suits are little better than Strike Daggers with delusions of grandeur. A Murasame could easily fly rings around them. ZAFT, on the other hand, is unlikely to attack Orb… and Carpentaria is close enough that I suspect any Earth Alliance invasion fleet bound for this archipelago would come under attack on general principles."

"Unlikely to attack us, perhaps," Yuna said, frowning. "But with Carpentaria so close, we could easily be caught in the crossfire… and you know as well as we do, Major, that the Earth Alliance would almost certainly declare _us_ as enemies, should we refuse to side with them."

Cagalli's hands clenched under her desk. _And that's what this really boils down to, isn't it?_ she thought darkly. _Abandon the principles that so many of our people died to secure, just because we might have to fight for them again…_

"I fail to see your point, My Lord," the Major said, seemingly oblivious to any undertones in the conversation.

Unato blinked. "Excuse me?" he said, more sharply than he'd have liked. "The problem should be obvious, Major: if the Earth Alliance decides we're the enemy, then Orb will very likely be burned by nuclear weapons again!"

"Incorrect supposition, My Lord," the Major observed. "The populace of the Earth Alliance member nations are not as willing to accept atrocities this time around, from what our analysts have been able to determine. Muruta Azrael was sharply criticized two years ago for nearly rendering Orb uninhabitable; they could never get away with such a strike in the current sociopolitical climate. And as for a conventional war… well, that's what allies are for."

"Allies?" the prime minister repeated, eyes narrow. "And just what 'allies' are you speaking of, Major? Yourselves?"

"Hardly," the soldier answered, rolling his eyes behind his mask. "We don't have the resources to be considered as such, even were we not an extra-national organization. No, My Lord, I was actually speaking of the PLANTs."

Yuna shot to his feet. "You're out of your mind!" he snapped, forgetting decorum entirely in his surprise and anger. "That would be just inviting an Earth Alliance attack, one which we couldn't possibly stop! The forces they'd deploy-"

"If you think the Earth Alliance could send an overwhelming attack force here before ZAFT could deploy reinforcements," the Major said dryly, "then obviously you've never read a map. As I noted earlier, Carpentaria is far closer to Orb than any Earth Alliance base… and they could also drop in forces from orbit. It wouldn't be the first time."

Cagalli hid a smile as Unato, too, glowered at the Major. "Completely out of the question," he snapped. "Whatever arguments you may concoct, Major, _we_ are well aware of our responsibilities to Orb and its people, and _we_ know that, even if you're somehow correct about how such an alliance would go at first, eventually the Earth Alliance's superior numbers would prove decisive. Every other nation in the world is already on the way to joining the World Security Treaty Organization…"

"Not every nation, My Lord," the Major said quietly. "The Equatorial Union will stand firm; they already overthrew one collaborating government. They won't stand for another."

"Perhaps so, but that is still only one nation," the prime minister shot back. "And in any case, we asked for your analysis of the current situation, not advice for how _we_ should handle _our_ governmental affairs. As you're so fond of pointing out yourself, Major, your unit is extra-national; our internal affairs are _not_ your concern."

The Major gazed at him coldly for several moments. "Inasmuch as your decisions could significantly affect our operations and funding," he said at last, "I believe your 'internal affairs' _are_ our business. Nonetheless, you have a point regarding your policy decisions… so I believe that covers our meeting."

Unato took a deep breath, forcing himself to regain his composure. "Not quite," he said, as calmly as he could manage. "There's also the matter of Rau Le Creuset. I saw him leave _Odin_ yesterday morning, and I'd very much like an explanation for that man's presence. A known madman, in our country, serving with a well-armed militia organization…"

"Commander Le Creuset's presence is not your concern," the Major said coldly. "He's being watched carefully by Section Nine, in case you're worried about him trying anything; without access to people he can manipulate, he's just one man, in a nation full of people who have reason to dislike him. I can assure you, however, that in my professional opinion –and that of my chief geneticist, and several psychiatrists- Commander Le Creuset has completely recovered his sanity… and, as such, is a trusted advisor in matters that are none of Orb's business."

Unato closed his eyes. _I'm really starting to dislike him,_ he thought wearily. _Blast Sahaku and Canaver for helping Cagalli set them up in such a vague manner that no one can reign them in without military force!_

When the man said nothing further, the Major tilted his head. "In that case, My Lord, are we finished?"

"Yes," Unato said, not sure if he was more reluctant to let the masked soldier off the hook or glad to see the last of him. "That's all for today."

"Then I'll take my leave. I'm sure you have other business to attend to, and I have another meeting myself before long." The Major turned to Cagalli. "My Lady?"

"Dismissed, Major," she responded, nodding. "I'll see you later." _And when I do, I'll thank you for knocking Unato off balance… and then rip your head off for reviving Rau Le Creuset. And if you don't have a _really_ good reason for it, I'll do it literally, partner.  
_

* * *

Orb Union, Izanagi Island, Memorial Park

* * *

Slow footsteps crunched on the gravel pathway, as a black-haired youth in civilian clothing slowly made his way into the park. 

One of the few places to escape devastation in the nuclear attack that ended the Battle of Orb, this stretch of waterfront had not been a park at the time. It had simply been a waterfront area with a road passing by, of little interest to anyone… which had been the only thing that spared it. Being neither a military area nor a population center, not even Muruta Azrael had seen any reason to bother incinerating it.

Besides, it had already been hit by a powerful energy barrage, earlier in the battle… and that was why the lone visitor had come here today.

_I never thought I'd see this place again,_ Shinn Asuka thought, gazing about with interest… and remembered fear and grief. _Two years since that day… looking at it now, you'd hardly believe anything had ever happened here in the first place._

_He_ knew, though. Shinn would never forget the day he and his family had made a break for the evacuation shuttles at the civilian spaceport. The Asuka family had stayed longer than many, believing there to be some hope for Orb victory; it was only when the order came for _all_ civilians to evacuate that they had gone… and that delay had killed them.

_And it wouldn't have happened at all,_ he thought bitterly, _if it weren't for Uzumi Nara Athha, the other nobles, and their pride. If they'd just accepted the ultimatum, surrendered without the struggle they _knew_ would be doomed… or at least if they'd issued the mandatory evacuation order right at the start…!_

Walking toward a stone monument at the seaward end of the park, Shinn took a deep breath, trying to force himself to calm down. Those thoughts had sustained him whenever the Academy had gotten truly difficult, kept him going through any challenge, and throughout all that time he'd fully believed them. From the moment GAT-X131 Calamity fired a colossal burst of laser fire at the Orb defenders, only to strike this stretch of coast instead, Shinn had blamed Orb for what had happened.

His resolve had been strengthened when, looking out the aft viewport of an evacuation shuttle, he'd seen the mushroom clouds and thermal blasts of dozens of nuclear weapons; the sight of the only home he'd ever known being razed to the ground had further fanned the flames of his rage… and furthered cemented his belief in the criminal arrogance of the Five Noble Families, Athha in particular.

But it had also strengthened Shinn's belief in the actions of ZAFT deserter Kenneth DiFalco… and therein lay his current quandary.

Before the day Section Nine's commanding officer had removed his mask aboard the _Minerva,_ revealing himself to be none other than the Grimaldi Falcon himself, Shinn had never actually met anyone who had participated in the final defense of Orb. He'd never known exactly what went on in the councils between the Orb government, the _Archangel,_ and DiFalco; all he had were secondhand reports, and the memory of fire and brutal death. That had long since brought him to the conclusion that True ZAFT had departed Orb in the manner they did because Athha had rejected DiFalco's advice, because Orb had refused to aid in True ZAFT's cause… but now he wasn't so sure.

_I know who fired the shot that killed Mom and Dad… and Mayu,_ Shinn told himself, stepping close to the memorial. _Calamity… one of the Earth Alliance's "biological CPUs". He was a clear enemy… but now he's dead, thanks to the Justice. The Earth Alliance itself is about to be our enemy again, leaving me with a clear target… but what about Orb? Those bastards in the government… but Commander DiFalco says it wasn't like that…_

He sighed in frustration, and knelt in front of the monument. As he'd expected, there were no names on it; most likely, the situation in Orb had been so chaotic at the time that only those who were actually present had any idea of just who had died… yet they cared enough to erect a monument in memory of the tragedy anyway.

There were also, Shinn noticed suddenly, flowers growing there, planted by some unknown passerby who knew at least some of the story… yet those flowers were now waterlogged, wilted from the barrage of water stirred up the colony drop days before.

"…It's always like that, isn't it?" Shinn said aloud, gazing down at the bedraggled flowers. "People die, and others plant flowers for them… and then someone else comes along and destroys the flowers… An endless, pointless cycle…"

"Maybe endless… but far from pointless, kid."

Shinn looked up with a start, as another's hand laid flowers against the monument. "Who-?" he began, coming to his feet.

The man standing behind him was tall, brown-haired, wearing a Hawaiian shirt… and bearing an inverted-Y scar on the left side of his face, over his closed left eyelid. There was also something about the way he stood that told Shinn at least one of his legs was prosthetic, and possibly his left arm, as well.

_And there's something… familiar about him._

"I'm just an old soldier passing through," the man told him with a smile. "I wasn't here when it happened, and even now I don't know who died here… but some friends of mine told me all about Orb's last stand."

"Last stand," Shinn repeated, more bitterly than he'd intended toward a stranger. "Yeah, that's one way to put it… and then there's Orb's folly."

The older man's smile didn't abate. "Folly?" he said quietly. "You sure about that, kid? Really sure, I mean?"

Shinn's hands clenched. "I was ten meters from this spot when it happened," he said through gritted teeth. "You can't _imagine_ what happened here… but I _know._ I saw it with my own eyes, lost more than you can understand, all because Athha wouldn't back down!"

"There was a reason for that, Shinn Asuka," the man told him, expression turning more serious.

The pilot glanced up at him, anger banked by surprise. "You know who I am?"

"A friend of mine told me about you," the older man said simply. "You've met her little brother; back in the War, they called her the Victorian Kestrel… and she was one of the most dangerous pilots I ever faced, at El Alamein or Victoria."

"You're talking about Sophia DiFalco," Shinn realized. "And El Alamein… you mean you're…?"

The older man smiled at the pilot's surprised reaction. "The name's Andrew Waltfeld, kid… and you might say I know a little something about last stands and lost causes."

Shinn turned away. "You still don't know what happened here," he said quietly… but not as firmly as before. "You can't understand what happened that day… even if you are the Desert Tiger…"

Waltfeld shook his head. "Maybe not, kid… but I've seen my share of what war brings. Two years ago, I faced the Strike pilot, Kira Yamato, at a place called Talbadiya, in the Libyan desert. The first time I saw him in battle, I was impressed, enough so that I started to wonder if the reports about him were true; the second time, I actually fought him, and he defeated my team. Then, in the Talbadiya factory district where _Archangel_ and the Desert Dawn made their stand, I fought him one last time. I knew by then that he was a Coordinator, and a hotshot pilot, but I still thought I was better… and that belief nearly got me killed."

The pilot turned his head slightly. "You fought Freedom's pilot?" he said quietly. "One on one?"

"That's right," Waltfeld confirmed. "Guess the story isn't quite as well known in ZAFT anymore… but the truth is, I took the best desert-adapted mobile suit we had, the LaGOWE, into battle with a space model… and lost. My partner, Aisha, and I were nearly killed when the Strike drove an assault knife into our machine. As it was, it cost me an arm, a leg, and an eye, and gave Aisha a nasty scar." He shook his head. "Asuka, there's lost causes, and then there's lost causes. I thought _Archangel_'s was the lost cause back then; turns out my side was the losing one. And Orb…"

"Orb abandoned its people, and had to be abandoned in turn by True ZAFT," Shinn said bitterly. "And it looks like the same thing is about to happen again, even after everything that happened last time. The Five Noble Families are just letting the cycle continue…"

"The cycle always continues," the Desert Tiger retorted. "That's how the world is; as long as there are people, there will always be war, and no amount of idealism is going to change that. But what's happening in Orb… Yeah, the Seirans are on the verge of repeating what happened here two years ago, so you're right about that, but what you're _not_ getting is why it happened the first time."

Shinn snorted. "I know exactly why it happened last time. It was because of the Athhas and their pride!"

_This kid really _does_ have a grudge against Orb,_ Waltfeld thought to himself, gazing speculatively at the youth. _Falcon was right about that… but he's got a sharp brain in there, too. We just need to find a way to break through that one preconception of his…_

"It wasn't because of pride," Waltfeld said at last. "You should ask Falcon for the blow by blow sometime, but even I know the basics: Uzumi Nara Athha could not, in good conscience, accept the Earth Alliance's demands; he knew as well as anyone that it would mean Orb's technology would be used against the PLANTs… and that there was a very good chance that any Coordinators in Orb –like you- would be used, imprisoned, or killed outright under Alliance occupation."

"Then why didn't he do something about it?!" Shinn demanded harshly, turning to face the older man again. "There must've been an option besides that useless battle that killed so many, and burned Orb to the ground! Why didn't he evacuate sooner, or accept ZAFT's offer of Alliance?!"

_And killed your family,_ Waltfeld added silently. "Mistakes were made," he acknowledged. "By Lord Uzumi… and by your icon, Falcon. While both were aware of the Fourth Naval Fleet's nuclear capability, neither of them expected even Muruta Azrael to actually carpet-bomb Orb with them; the existence of Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider also caught them unprepared. It wasn't until those three turned up, and Alicia Cateau confirmed the nuclear presence, that Lord Uzumi and True ZAFT realized how little time was really left. That's why the evacuation order came so late. And as for ZAFT… Asuka, Falcon and Lord Uzumi had been in contact ever since Falcon's desertion. They both knew all about Patrick Zala's ambitions, knew that allying with ZAFT would've been just as bad at that point."

Shinn closed his eyes. "There still must've been something…" he began stubbornly.

Waltfeld sighed. "Maybe there was, Asuka; maybe twenty years from now, some military historian will look back, and find the perfect solution to the problem. But the people on the spot had less than a week to make their decision. There wasn't time to find the perfect solution, so they did the only thing they could: the held the line, until all the civilians could evacuate to Ame-no-Mihashira… and then Orb's leaders sacrificed themselves, as well as Morgenroete and all the other military facilities, to give True ZAFT a chance to end the War."

The pilot shook his head. "That just doesn't make sense… And why are you taking the time to tell me all this, anyway?" he asked abruptly.

"Because I happened to be in the area," Waltfeld replied, "dropping off those flowers. And, I'll admit, because Falcon thinks you're worth keeping an eye on. Considering that he once assembled one of the best teams in ZAFT, I'm inclined to trust his judgment." He turned away, and started walking toward a waiting car. "Think on what I said for a while, kid," he advised. "Maybe… you'll find a different perspective on things."

As the Desert Tiger climbed into the car –driven, the pilot noticed, by a woman with dark blue hair and a scar across the bridge of her nose- Shinn Asuka turned back toward the monument, fists still clenched. _That just can't be right,_ he thought to himself. _I _know_ how things were back then… Certainly Orb is heading toward it _now!_ That has to be because of the same arrogance from two years ago… but the Desert Tiger was one of DiFalco's inner circle, and DiFalco himself said…_

He sank to one knee in front of the monument. "Mayu…" Shinn whispered. "What should… what should I do? What… do I believe now?"

Shinn Asuka somehow thought that the answer to his question was not going to be an easy one to find.

* * *

Orb, Parliament Building, Chief Representative's Office

* * *

The soldier known as the Major had stepped out of the room for only a few minutes; though Unato and his son were unaware of it, he simply waited for a plausible amount of time, then removed his gasmask, tossed it to Cagalli's secretary –a former Orb Navy officer, who'd served on the _Kusanagi_- and then stepped back into the room… this time as Kenneth DiFalco. 

"Good to see you, Ken," Cagalli greeted warmly, pleased to be able to address him as a friend again, instead of an allied commander… though she was, of course, careful not to let even a hint into her voice of the fact that she'd just spoken to him five minutes before. "Getting settled back in all right?"

"Yeah," Ken acknowledged, with a faint smile (even now, his facial expressions tended to be minimal; his face was not one accustomed to effusive expressions). "Even got out of it with my hide mostly intact. Murrue only tore three strips off."

Behind Cagalli, Kira chuckled. "Glad you survived," he remarked. "I know she can get a little… protective."

"Considering that I nearly died three times over at Jachin," the ace said dryly, "I think her reaction is understandable."

Unato cleared his throat pointedly, breaking into the small talk with a trace of impatience. "I trust you understand why I requested your presence, Mr. DiFalco?" he began without preamble.

Ken turned his one-eyed gaze on the prime minister, utterly unfazed by Unato's omission of any rank or title. He'd long since realized that the man didn't like him, and that his deliberate failure to address him as "Commander" –a title most people used when speaking to or of him, if only for simplicity- didn't bother him the slightest. _Not that I intend to mention that,_ he mused. _Then he might find something that _does_ irritate me…_

"Yes," he said after a moment, "I've got a fair idea. Since my architectural work hasn't exactly been important enough to reach your desk since this building was completed, I assume you refer instead to my participation in the attempt to stop Junius Seven from falling."

"Exactly," Unato confirmed. He fixed a glower on the ex-ZAFT pilot. "Would you care to explain just what you thought you were doing, DiFalco? Leaving aside the fact that Preybird wasn't even supposed to exist anymore, you handed the Earth Alliance a propaganda opportunity of great value to them… assuming that it is, indeed, propaganda."

Cagalli came to her feet in an instant. "That was over the line, Unato!" she snapped. "Even implying that Ken was involved in-"

Kira touched her shoulder, even as the ace raised a hand. "I think Falcon can handle this himself," he whispered in her ear. "And besides, getting all flustered isn't going to help you fight Unato's policies, remember?"

She gritted her teeth, but nodded fractionally anyway. "I hate politics," she hissed out of the corner of her mouth, and reluctantly dropped back into her chair.

Ken hardly seemed to notice her intervention. "Before you throw any accusations at me, My Lord," he said calmly, "I should probably point out to you that Sato –the man leading the terrorists- was a Patrick Zala loyalist. Need I remind you the lengths to which I went two years ago to _stop_ Patrick? I'm hardly likely to ally with someone who _agreed_ with that madman."

Unato's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps not… but then again, DiFalco, I seem to recall you making bargains with those you dislike in the past. You used the Earth Forces to eventually gain the support of the _Archangel,_ did you not?"

"With every intention of eventually betraying them," the Demon Lord countered.

"You could easily have done the same thing to those responsible for _this_ incident, as well," the prime minister retorted. "After all, manipulation is your trade, isn't it? Misdirection and deceit are as much your tools as strategy and tactics… and unlike them, you clearly had every intention of surviving, so it would be entirely like you to use them and dispose of them."

By this point, Cagalli was veritably vibrating with rage… and, to Kira's surprise, even Ken was starting to lose his cool. It wasn't something Unato noticed, nor would most other people, but Kira had known his mentor for years now, and knew the faint signs of anger in the ace's manner, and the fire smoldering to life in his visible eye.

"If you had had the courage to fight in the War, Seiran," Ken said coldly, right hand twitching almost imperceptibly, "you would've never made that insinuation. Since you did not, however, you clearly don't understand me at all." He fixed a glare on the prime minister. "I did not desert ZAFT, fight with the Earth Alliance, against my own comrades, and watch my people die just to create the very disaster we stopped two years ago. My people paid for GENESIS' destruction with their blood, and I would _never_ dishonor their sacrifice in such a way, even if I were the murderer you make me out to be!"

Unato blinked, and Yuna physically recoiled. Neither of them being soldiers, neither having seen with their own eyes Ken DiFalco on the battlefield, they had both mistaken his perpetual soft-spoken manner for something it manifestly was not… and while they had known intellectually that the man before them was highly dangerous, only now did it truly sink in on an emotional level.

Before either of them could say anything, Ken took a deep breath, struggling for the calm he'd displayed only moments before. Very few subjects could cause him to lose control that way, but suggesting that he would render meaningless the deaths of _Arkbird_'s crew, and Sparky Cooper, by involving himself in dropping Junius Seven on Earth… render meaningless Laura Elsman's death, defending the colony where he had been _born…_

"Prime Minister Seiran," he said quietly, calm returned his voice but with a dangerous gleam still in his eye, "I lost one of my best friends and my most loyal subordinate trying to stop GENESIS. _Arkbird_'s attempt to prevent it from firing also cost the lives of Patrick Zala –who, for all his madness, _was_ my friend, long ago- and over two _thousand_ ZAFT soldiers on Jachin Due. The bridge crew on the _Asmodeus_ also perished in that battle, and many crew died aboard the other ships of the fleet, as well as a number of our pilots. I very nearly perished myself, more than once, before I could finally put an end to that madness. Now, if I _did_ want to render Earth uninhabitable, don't you think I simply would've allowed GENESIS to run its course, instead of waiting two years for a method with less chance of success?"

Unato leaned back in his chair, nonplussed… and irritated almost as much with himself as with the arrogant pilot before him. _Not my smartest argument,_ he thought darkly. _Of course he wouldn't do that; for all that he's an arrogant bastard, he obviously wants _peace_ between Earth and the colonies, not genocide. And besides, he'd hardly attempt such a thing when his own fiancé is in Orb…_

"Perhaps my comments were… out of order," he said, speaking as though each word tasted somehow foul. "For that, I apologize, Mr. DiFalco."

_And I can believe as much –or as little- of _that_ as I like,_ Ken thought to himself. Nonetheless, though, he nodded curtly, acknowledging the apology. "Understood, My Lord."

Unato nodded, and turned his mind to another possible avenue of attack. "All right, then, so you weren't actively involved. That does not, however, change the fact that your very presence gave at least a hint of legitimacy to the PLANTs and ZAFT, which is something Orb does _not_ need in the current political climate."

"On the contrary," Ken disputed, "I did nothing of the sort… for the simple reason that I don't need to 'give' them legitimacy. The fact is that the PLANTs are the only group currently involved in the budding conflict that _has_ legitimacy in the first place. Throughout the last six years, the only time the PLANTs have not held the moral highroad was when Patrick attempted to use GENESIS on Earth… and at that particular moment, Earth didn't hold the high ground either, what with their attempted use of nuclear weapons on the PLANTs. Combine that with their earlier nuclear attacks in Orb and Africa, the destruction of Junius Seven, Blue Cosmos' framing of the PLANTs in the Copernicus tragedy, and the very oppression that led to the Revolution in the first place, and I daresay the PLANTs have a _far_ better track record than Earth."

"Their 'track record' is irrelevant," Unato said sharply. "Principles are meaningless without anyone to carry them on, and that's exactly what would happen if the Earth Alliance believed us to be supporting ZAFT in any way… which your appearance in Preybird would seem to imply, from what they've said."

_That_ got the Demon Lord's attention. "They connected my appearance with Orb?" he demanded. "They know where I am?"

Unnoticed by the two intellectual adversaries, Cagalli sat straight in her chair, and Kira stiffened. They exchanged a look then, for they knew as well as their friend the potential consequences of _that_ information leaking out. It was something they'd spent quite a bit of time worrying about, in fact, in the first months after the War ended.

Certain elements in ZAFT still considered Ken DiFalco to be a traitor; but where others in that organization thought him a hero, there was no such divided sentiment among the Earth Alliance forces. With the exception of a handful more devoted to duty than to anti-Coordinator bias, the former Grimaldi Falcon was practically the devil himself… and they were entirely apt to try and do something about it.

"I wouldn't say that they know for certain where you are," Unato said, after a judicious moment of consideration… and utterly oblivious to the wheels he'd set in motion in the ace's head. "But they certainly suspect you're here. After all, where else would an ex-ZAFT ace disliked by both sides choose to reside?"

_Not good,_ Ken thought, mind shifting into the old tactical thought patterns that had served him well in the War. _If they know that, then someday soon they're going to try something very stupid… or add my head to the conditions of the treaty, as presented to Orb. Either way, things may be about go get very… interesting. I'd better make sure Jason keeps _Odin_ ready for a hasty departure at any time…_

"I see," he said finally, letting no trace of his sudden speculation into his voice. "I trust, however, that you didn't _confirm_ my location when you responded to them?"

"No," Unato allowed, "I did not. I do not like you, Mr. DiFalco, but at this time, I believe confirming that you _do_ reside here would be… an ill-advised action. Nonetheless, you have placed the Orb government in an awkward position, and I believe we at least deserve an explanation for your actions."

Ken smiled faintly. "Isn't it obvious, My Lord? As I said, I didn't destroy my own creation, and watch my friends and comrades die in pursuit of that goal, just to see some other group try and destroy the world by dropping my birthplace on it. And," he admitted, "I must concede that it felt good to fly again. Perhaps not under those precise circumstances-" his tiny smile flickered, as he remembered Nightwing "-but it had been far too long since I took Preybird out under _any_ circumstances."

_I have you now,_ Unato thought, smiling inwardly. "Yes… about Preybird, Mr. DiFalco. My understanding was that it was badly damaged in the destruction of GENESIS… and then destroyed, as per the Junius Treaty provisions. Would you care to explain why you have been so blatantly violating the Treaty?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it blatant," the ace observed, "since no one even knew about it till now… but to answer your question, there was, in fact, no violation at all. Leaving aside the fact that I'm a private citizen these days, not a member of any military organization, Preybird was restored by and in the custody of Section Nine up until now. As they're known to possess nuclear missiles, a nuclear-powered mobile suit is hardly a big deal."

_I really do hate that man,_ Unato thought, closing his eyes. _That insolent… If Cagalli wasn't so fond of him, this kind of behavior would never be tolerated._ He consoled himself then with the thought that the bane of his political existence would, perhaps, not be such a powerful figure much longer. _After we force the new treaty through, DiFalco won't even _want_ to say here; not with the risk of anti-Coordinator sentiment. And if he _is_ stupid enough to remain here, I imagine the Earth Alliance will be happy to deal with the problem…_

Enjoying the thought of Ken DiFalco's probable fate, Unato Ema Seiran never noticed the measuring look the pilot gave him.

* * *

Atlantic Federation, Groom Lake, New Mexico Region

* * *

_Hard to believe they've managed to maintain security in this place for so long,_ Captain Neo Roanoke reflected, stepping through one of the many checkpoints at the heavily-guarded facility. _Kind of makes me wonder if they really _do_ dissect aliens down here…_

The military base once known to conspiracy theorists everywhere as "Area 51" had long since been taken over by new management… but even now, its purpose remained much the same. The first stealth aircraft had been produced at the facility, over a century before, and now it housed another top-secret military project.

As Lieutenant Commander Allen Hamilton's presence at Neo's side indicated, it was now home to Project Zeta.

"So how long has this project been going on?" Neo asked, as they stepped into the elevator leading to the lower levels. "I'd never even heard of it before the briefings for the Armory One operation…"

"Over two years now," Hamilton replied, punching the button for the lowest basement level. "The project was initiated by Director Azrael, in the wake of the subjugation of Orb; originally, it was meant to counter ZGMF-X00A Preybird."

"Which explains why Nightwing was the first product of it," the masked captain mused. "I'd wondered about that…"

The pilot nodded. "Exactly. GAT-X505 Nightwing was the program's first success… though that success was quite some time in coming. I wasn't brought into the project until six months ago, but my understanding is that they actually constructed one prototype prior to Nightwing, X504 Blackbird. Unfortunately, while certainly impressive in its own right, it didn't quite match up to the original; they didn't get the energy efficiency they expected, and its maneuverability was nothing compared to the real thing."

Neo rubbed the left eyehole of his mask. "So what changed?"

"The luckiest break in the world, and one of the most unlikely." Hamilton smiled thinly. "When Section Nine was first formed, Project Zeta managed to slip an operative into Orb before their security measures were fully in place… and before Preybird was moved to wherever the current Section Nine base is. This operative managed to get the complete plans for Preybird –minus the twin satellite cannon, which had already been removed at that point- and transmitted them to the Groom Lake facility. That's how Project Zeta learned of the unique inner frame used by Preybird… and while it's far too complex to be cost effective, at least for mass-production, it's perfect for the sort of limited-production units being developed here."

"A spy in Section Nine," Neo murmured, a trace of respect in his voice. "I never would've guessed… Just how much information do you get from this source?"

"Not much," Hamilton admitted. "The source isn't very highly placed; most of what we get is general readiness reports on Section Nine's ships and mobile weapons." He grimaced. "Even with that data, though, we weren't able to predict Preybird's return at that particular moment."

The elevator slid neatly to a stop, and the pair stepped out into a new corridor. "Not a major problem," the captain said with a shrug. "Nightwing was adequate for fending it off during the operation." _Barely,_ he amended to himself. _The Demon Lord… apt alias for _him._ I doubt many other pilots would've even survived that encounter, even with Nightwing…_

"Nightwing was actually completed several months ago," Hamilton remarked, oblivious to the other officer's thoughts. "It wasn't until you were given the Armory One assignment, however, that a suitable pilot was found. Not many can keep up with its capabilities, you know."

"It doesn't surprise me," Neo admitted. "I found its performance to be… phenomenal, to say the least. So that's why this 'Demon Lord' was so effective during the War."

"Part of it," Hamilton agreed sourly. "There's also, unfortunately, the fact that the man really is one of the best at what he does. My observation during Second Jachin was that only Kira Yamato's skill exceeded his."

He paused then, as they came to a large hatch, guarded by a pair of soldiers in full body armor, carrying heavy battle rifles. Neither challenged the two officers, but they did watch carefully as Hamilton ran his security card through the reader next to the hatch, then presented his right eye to a retinal scanner.

The security console beeped, and the guards turned their attention back to the approach corridor. "Heaviest security this side of Heavens Base," Hamilton explained, as the hatch ground open. "Don't underestimate the importance Command and our… other superiors place on Project Zeta." He waved Neo in through the hatch. "And this, Captain, is the heart of Project Zeta."

Neo obediently stepped through… and behind his mask, his eyebrows lifted at the sight of the quartet of machines standing within the underground hangar. Three were clearly incomplete, while the fourth appeared to have been in disuse for some time, but there was no denying that, even in that state, they looked advanced, powerful… and lethal.

Hamilton said nothing for a while, allowing the masked captain to take in the sight; it was a courtesy he was grateful for.

One of the three incomplete machines looked much like the typical "Strike-style" that typified many Earth Alliance mass-production designs, and even the ZAFT-built ZGMF-X10A Freedom –or Preybird- but was somewhat heavier-built, with a trio of spikes coming out of the shoulders, and a pair of rifle-like weapons hanging behind the shoulders.

The second was more of a departure from that design philosophy; a somewhat similar look, but much bulkier, as though its armor was meant to withstand intense forces. The thrusters mounted on the shoulders were huge, which befitted its heavy armor… and the bazooka behind its right shoulder.

Not to mention its gigantic shield, which looked almost like it was meant to withstand a nuclear explosion.

The third was, perhaps, the greatest departure of the three. Powerful thrusters were mounted in both the wings and back, and like its larger brother –thought not to the same extent- its armor seemed somewhat heavier than normal. Moreover, the shield mounted on its right arm seemed unusually aerodynamic… and the machine itself had the look of a transformable unit.

"…What _are_ they…?" Neo breathed.

"The fruits of Project Zeta," Hamilton said, with pride in his voice. "Toward the back, you have the old Blackbird; it hasn't flown in years, but they haven't been willing to throw away the investment, either. On the left, you have what is currently codenamed the Sigma. Those are Variable Speed Beam Rifles behind the shoulders; a whole new concept, which, in theory, will allow Sigma greater tactical flexibility than many other machines." He pointed toward the bulky machine, on the right. "That one's development codename is Omega… though I hear they're thinking of calling it the 'Nova' when it's complete."

Neo glanced at him curiously. "Nova, as in 'new'?"

The pilot smirked, and slammed his right fist into his left palm. "Nova, as in 'boom'," he corrected. "That bazooka fires a nuclear warhead."

"A nuclear warhead…?" For an instant, something inside Neo flinched… but an instant later, he didn't even remember the reaction, and simply speculated on the implications of that design choice. "That explains the heavy armor, and the shield…"

"Exactly," Hamilton confirmed. "That shield is supposed to protect it from the fringes of a nuclear blast wave… though, of course, not even Omega could survive being any closer than that." He smiled. "I understand Admiral Sykes hopes to employ it in the attack on the PLANTs, when war is finally declared."

"So war is believed inevitable now?" Neo murmured. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised… that's the only reason we would've been sent after the Second-Stage units, after all…"

"Indeed." Hamilton then pointed toward the central machine. "And that, Captain, is Zeta, the pride of this program… and the mobile suit I've been assigned, once it's complete. A transformable, in the vein of the Second-Stage machines, but rather more advanced. Capable of atmospheric reentry on its own, and, for that matter, capable of exiting the atmosphere independently. Escape velocity becomes much lower when you can continuously accelerate; more time consuming, but doable nonetheless."

Neo nodded. "Then they're nuclear-powered, correct?"

"Correct. After all, the Treaty has been a virtual dead letter in that regard since its inception; Section Nine isn't bound by that provision at all, and it's an open secret Orb retains the Freedom." The pilot shrugged. "Besides, by the time anyone knows of their existence, war will have begun, and Treaty will be a moot point."

"No doubt." _So, this is the fruits of two years of work… Even in the interval, they never stopped working on them, eh? Sounds like Lord Djibril and the others never planned on letting the peace last, but I suppose that isn't really a surprise…_ "So," Neo said, after a moment, "just how good _are_ these machines?"

Hamilton shrugged. "It's impossible to know for sure until they're completed, but in theory, they should be up to the level of Preybird. All three incorporate the same inner frame technology as Preybird, so Sigma and –especially- Zeta should be able to keep up with it. Their weapons are also more advanced… do in part to the captured data from the Second-Stage series. They're analyzing that information and tweaking the Project Zeta units as we speak."

Neo nodded thoughtfully. "Projected deployment?"

"Two months until completion," Hamilton said promptly, "and then another two months for test flying. Under other circumstances, we'd take our time with testing, but under these… Well, the top brass want them operational in time for the first offensive of the new war, and by cutting a few corners we should be able to do just that." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Actually, though, I think only Omega is supposed to be involved in Operation Fatman; Sigma and my own Zeta are slated to take part in the move on Orb, in case any of their military is stubborn enough to try something despite the treaty."

"You're that confident the WTSC will be ratified by the Orb government?" Neo asked, turning to his fellow pilot. "My understanding is that Chief Representative Athha is quite the stubborn one herself."

"Perhaps so," Hamilton conceded. "But I believe we've been… influencing the Seirans lately, and these days the prime minister's power is gradually eclipsing the chief representative's. Combine that with a shift in public opinion, and she shouldn't have any choice in the matter." His eyes narrowed, as he gazed up at the machines. "And if, by some one in a million chance, it _isn't_ ratified… well, Project Zeta should take care of the problem easily enough. That, along with Admiral Novak's _Dominion."_

The masked captain rubbed his mask's left eyehole again. "And DiFalco?" he asked softly. "He's connected with Section Nine, and he resides in Orb these days…"

Hamilton's expression turned cold. "Then he's my job, Captain. Even Preybird will have difficulty keeping up with Zeta, if he does come out to play."

Neo nodded, but didn't give up immediately. "What about Freedom? Or, for that matter, _Odin_ and _Asmodeus?"_

If possible, the other man's expression became colder still. "Then you're sent in to take over the battle with Preybird, Captain… and _I_ mop up Freedom, while _Dominion_ and _Ophanim_ deal with the Section Nine warships. And if push comes to shove, I believe Admiral Sykes is also prepared to deploy _Kyriotite."_

Neo Roanoke nodded one more time, and then turned his attention back to the quartet of lethal mobile suits. _So… much as he may consider it secondary to his duty, Hamilton _does_ want revenge for his father's death, eh? And _three_ of our _Archangel_-class ships possibly being devoted to this one operation… Lord Djibril must want Orb very badly indeed._

_I only pray it doesn't turn into the debacle it has the potential to.  
_

* * *

Orb Union, DiFalco Residence

* * *

Ken DiFalco stepped through his front door, sighed, and doffed his trench coat with a feeling of relief. "Say what you will for loving your job," he murmured to himself, "but there's really nothing quite like going home for the day…" 

He started to turn from the entrance foyer toward the living room, but was caught in an embrace before he could take more than a step. "Long day at work, Ken?" Murrue Ramius murmured in his ear.

"You have no idea," he replied, returning the embrace. It had taken the ace a long time to truly open up, even after finally beginning to recover from his self-inflicted psychological wounds, but now that he had… "Ever been read the riot act by the same person twice in ten minutes, under two different identities?"

She chuckled. "Can't say that I have," she admitted, releasing him. "I take it your meetings with Seiran were almost Sutherland bad?"

"Very nearly." Ken shook his head, and started walking toward the dining room with Murrue on his arm. "First I got harangued for _not_ intervening in the colony drop, then shouted at for doing exactly that. Seems Unato would've liked to see Section Nine act –though probably not for the reasons he said- but was furious that _I_ got involved, since the Earth Alliance apparently has a pretty good idea that I'm connected to Orb these days."

Murrue sighed. "That family is getting more out of control all the time… Well, at least it's over and done with, right? You won't have any problems now that you're home… Oh, and dinner's ready," she added. "Along with the guests."

The ace nodded, smelling food. "So I gather."

He said nothing more until they entered the dining room… and once inside, he had to fight not to laugh out loud. Having Athrun and Lacus over was hardly unusual, but this time the table was also occupied by Rau Le Creuset… opposite an uncomfortable Mu La Flaga, who was trying hard not to glare at Rau.

Lacus opened her mouth to greet the newly-arrived pair, but Mu beat her to the punch. "I suppose you're going to tell me everything this jackal said is the truth?" he said without preamble, scowling at his younger brother.

Ken hid a small smile. "Yes, Mu, I am. I imagine he explained his situation to you earlier?"

"He did," the Hawk of Endymion said sourly. "And I'm willing to concede, for the sake of argument, that he's not a raving lunatic anymore. Now, though, I'm starting to wonder about _you,_ brother mine. Even if he isn't a threat at all these days –which I'm not convinced of- you took a huge risk in doing this, and that's not like you."

Rau sighed. "As I believe I already told you, Mu, Falcon decided he needed an expert on how Gil operates, and I was effectively the only choice he had."

Ken nodded in agreement. "Moreover, Mu, you know Section Nine is strapped for manpower. Rau's expertise in Durandal's schemes was the primary reason I revived him, but getting another pilot out of the deal was an added bonus. And-"

"And dinner is going to get cold if you keep on arguing with each other," Murrue interrupted sternly. "Under wartime conditions, maybe that wouldn't be unusual, but I won't have that happen when we actually have the time to sit down and eat. You understand me, people?"

"Perfectly, Captain," Ken and Mu said in unison, provoking a chuckle from Athrun.

"Still," Lacus said thoughtfully, as Murrue and Ken sat, "where are Kira and Cagalli? I thought they were going to join us tonight…"

"You called?"

Athrun smiled, seeing Kira and Cagalli –who both had keys to the house, being close friends of the occupants- walked into the room. "Glad to see you both," he said warmly. "Haven't had a chance to since you got back. How are things going?"

"Could be better," Kira said with a shrug. "You know how politics are."

"Not to mention a certain issue we need to clear up right now," Cagalli added, glaring suddenly at Ken. "Mind explaining just what on _earth_ you thought you were doing, bringing _him_ back?!" She jerked her toward where Rau sat, and her expression was positively thunderous.

Ken didn't show it, but in the back of his mind, he recalled a sparring match in the desert, which had ended in an effective draw… and convinced him that not even he wanted to take on _that_ young lady when she was in a bad mood. "Well," he said carefully, "it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Cagalli's malachite gaze didn't flicker. "Not good enough, partner," she said harshly. "Last I remember, you were doing your best to _kill_ Le Creuset, and for good reason! What could possibly have convinced you to bring him back?!"

No one else even thought of entering the conversation; this argument was between Kira, Cagalli, and the ace that had showed them both the ropes of mobile suit combat. Even Murrue decided it was better for them to clear things up on their own, and simply began eating. _They'll get over it in a few minutes,_ she judged. _No one will get killed –I think- so I might as well make sure not _all_ the food gets cold…_

"I didn't really have much of a choice," Ken said at last, voice completely serious this time. "I have reason to believe that Gilbert Durandal is _not_ on the level, and I needed someone who knew him well in order to properly predict how he might act."

"And how, exactly, do you know that he _does_ know anything about that?" Cagalli demanded. "He could be lying to you, you know!"

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Rau interjected wearily, "but there's something I should probably point out: Falcon was well aware of my connection to Gil long before he even left ZAFT. He didn't need me to confirm that for him."

"Exactly," Ken confirmed. "As far back as the academy, I knew Durandal was Rau's personal physician… and when I learned of Rau's origins during the Mendel battle, I began to wonder just why that was. And, for that matter, what Rau might know about Durandal's plans. Remember, partner, Rau merely confirmed suspicions I already had about Durandal; he didn't manipulate me into paranoia, if that's what you're thinking."

Cagalli closed her eyes. _Must not kill my partner,_ she thought to herself. _Must not kill my partner… even if he _has_ lost his mind…_

It was Kira who next broke the silence. "So, what _have_ you been able to tell Ken, Commander?" he asked, watching Rau warily.

"Not much so far," the older man said regretfully. "I'm afraid that the combination of Providence's destruction and eighteen months in cryo-stasis damaged some of my memory engrams. I know Gil is up to _something,_ that he intends to change the entire world in some fashion… but I don't remember exactly _what._"

Cagalli snorted. "And we're supposed to believe that?" she said, disbelieving.

"Sophia has put him under hypnotic interrogation on several occasions," Murrue interjected, reentering the conversation. "Also drug-assisted questioning, when he was first revived. I must admit that I'm still a little skeptical that Rau will _remain_ sane, but Sophia and Section Nine's specialists have convinced me that he is indeed telling the truth."

Kira gave his mentor a shrewd glance. "Let me guess… about half of the precautions you've taken have been because you knew _we_ would get wind of it eventually, and would read you the riot act over it. You didn't think most of them necessary, did you?"

"I trust my sister," Ken said simply; it was a statement that would've surprised everyone there, prior to the DiFalco reconciliation, during the War. "She's a fine geneticist these days, and the psychiatrists working with her on Rau's recovery are top-notch. And…" He shrugged. "My gut told me he was on the level."

Even Cagalli nodded unwillingly at that. Ken DiFalco was by no means infallible –most of his near-death experiences during the War had been due to him making assumptions that proved false- but when it came to trusting people, the only time his "gut" had been wrong was with Victor Tempest. _And Tempest was a special case,_ she thought sourly. _He was crazy, but trying to fight it… Must've given Ken mixed messages._

"Have you given Ken _any_ useful information so far?" she asked finally, partly to stall for time to gather her thoughts.

"Yes," Rau said quietly. "I've already warned him to beware of Rey Za Burrel. That pilot… not only is he, in fact, working directly for Gil, but he also happens to be another clone of Al Da Flaga."

Kira jerked in surprise, and Mu swore viciously. _"Another_ clone of my father?! First you, then Tempest… just how many of you _are_ there?!"

"Originally, dozens," Rau said flatly. "By now… I don't know. As far as I know, only the three of us survived to see the War –Rey was once like a brother to me- but I may be mistaken. At any rate, Rey is not, at this point, aware of my continued survival. To my knowledge, no one outside Orb and Section Nine has the least idea… and that may be one of our few advantages."

Ken rubbed his eyepatch. "He's right about that," he said quietly. "My belief, amigos, is that there are conspiracies on both sides now. We've known about Logos for years now, but I now believe Durandal to be an even greater threat. I don't think mass destruction is his goal… but there are some things _worse_ than death, in my view." He nodded at Rau. "And that, my friends, is why I need him. I need someone who can understand how Durandal thinks… and someone who _knows_ what Durandal's up to, if he can ever remember it."

Cagalli's eyes narrowed. "And if he goes out of control again?"

The ace met her gaze levelly. "If he ever needs to be killed, partner, I'll do it myself. Until then, leave it in my hands, will you?"

She closed her eyes, and turned away, unable to answer immediately. _Ken is out of his mind,_ she thought. _Bringing back Rau Le Creuset… okay, maybe he really _is_ sane now, but does that really make up for everything that he did two years ago? And can even Sophia's people be sure that he won't lose it again?_

Cagalli finally sighed, and turned toward Kira. "Well, what do _you_ think?" she asked softly.

He hesitated for a long moment. Like his girlfriend, Kira recalled all too well the Second Battle of Jachin Due, where he and Rau had fought their last duel, interrupted only by Ken's sudden reappearance. He remembered Rau's mocking laughter… and the way he'd tried to destroy the _Archangel,_ in the instant before Ken returned.

That, and their many other encounters in the War –especially at Mendel's GARM facility- left Kira with an unflattering impression of Rau Le Creuset, to say the least.

_And yet…_

"I think… we should give him a chance," Kira said slowly.

Cagalli blinked. "…You sure about that, Kira? I mean, after everything he did…"

He shrugged. "I don't trust him either," he admitted. "Not yet. But… I think he deserves a second chance. If he really is reformed, then this is his first chance at a normal life. And when you think about it… what he did must get to him even more than GENESIS haunted Ken."

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "When you put it that way…" Another long moment passed… and the Cagalli turned back to Rau at last. "You know that you'll have to prove yourself, right?"

Rau nodded soberly. "Oh, yes, My Lady. I know. And believe me, I'll be proving myself _to_ myself long after you're satisfied."

Cagalli nodded back. "Then… for the moment, at least, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." As though to prove her sincerity, she then stepped forward, and seated herself at the table, with Kira quickly sitting down to her right.

"Well," Lacus observed then, "perhaps now we can have a civilized meal together, instead of arguing until dinner gets cold."

Murrue laughed. "Exactly right, Lacus. We can worry about the fate of the world some other time, hm?"

The tension finally dispelled, the various diners got down to dining… and Ken exchanged a look with Rau, acknowledging that, while there was not yet true trust among them all, Rau had taken the first step on the road to the redemption he sought… and feared he would never find.

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

On the surface, the world has calmed… yet as _Minerva_ undergoes repairs, Section Nine regroups, and Cagalli picks up the reigns of leadership once more, disturbing currents appear in the depths of Orb's policy. Discord forms between Orb and the organization it and the PLANTs jointly support, and Ken DiFalco's own duel life becomes more perilous. 

Meanwhile, the Demon Lord tests his old student, and his concern about her strength grows… while in the Atlantic Federation, a new menace nears completion…

Okay, so this chapter is a bit late, too; not as late as the last one, but still late. In this case, high temperatures –which, thankfully, have since abated- made writing something akin to a living hell for a few days. That, hopefully, won't be a factor for a little while… and if it does rear its head again, I should at least be able to acclimate to it this time (I'd better, anyway; otherwise summer will have me contemplating hara kiri).

Well, as per standard procedure this chapter will be followed by another update of the same story; until this one catches up with A Call to Arms, the likely pattern will be two chapters of Cry of the Falcon for every one of Kevin Walker's saga; at that rate, the two stories should be roughly equivalent before too long.

At any rate, I realize this chapter was a bit slow; unfortunately, the Orb sequence in general is likely to be that way, given how little actually happens during that time. I assure you all, though, that starting with the breakout from Orb, this story will be anything _but_ slow. I've got big plans for this story, big and action-packed… But for now, let me know how _this_ chapter was. –Solid Shark


	10. Chapter 10: Stampede

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

Also, all references to characters and events from the Equatorial Union Civil War are property of Ominae; for further information, see his story "Rebellion"

* * *

Morgenroete Harbor, Gym, December 7th, C.E. 73

* * *

"True success in war requires more than book knowledge," the trench coat-clad soldier noted, sitting cross-legged on an exercise mat. "You can study a book for as long as you like, memorize all the facts in them, but that alone will not make you a formidable soldier." 

Shinn Asuka, looking –and feeling- somewhat uncomfortable in a similar posture, tilted his head. "What do you mean, Commander?" he asked, frowning slightly.

"Knowledge is worthless without the ability to execute your intentions," Ken DiFalco replied, Cyclops-like gaze meeting the younger man's levelly. "Also, a book cannot teach you how to deal with new situations; the training you receive in a classroom only conveys generalities. That leads to the qualities that I believe are most important to a soldier."

As the two conversed, Millenia Crescent leaned against one wall of the gym, looking on with a trace of amusement. _Minerva_ had been in Orb nearly two months now, and in that time, her former teacher had apparently taken on the hotheaded pilot as personal project, as though determined to mold him into a true soldier… or warrior, as the case may be. Exactly what the ace's motives were, Millenia couldn't say… but she _did_ approve of anything that made Shinn more likely to obey orders in the heat of battle.

Sessions like this had become routine. As _Minerva_ would have little use for pilots –or most of the rest of her crew- until they finally left Orb, Talia Gladys had chosen to be generous with her subordinates' schedules, giving them greater than average leave time, as well as most of the day off. With a war coming, and little to do to help with repairs, she wanted her crew well-rested before departing… and so Shinn Asuka spent many of his off-hours absorbing the wisdom of his hero, first with simple, dogged hero worship, and now with intense concentration.

"So what are those qualities?" Shinn asked now, eyes intent.

"Experience," Ken said promptly. "First through live exercises, then actual combat; if you survive that, you learn how a real battle can go, and you then begin to obtain the second quality: adaptability. The ability to cope with unexpected situations, ones not covered in any training manual. The third is patience: rushing into battle is a tactic reserved only for the most desperate situations. Otherwise, wait for your moment, and never strike before you're ready." He was counting off the numbers as he spoke, and now he ticked off a fourth point. "Fourth: an agile mind. It allows you to outthink the enemy, plan and react. This cannot be taught; either you can think on your feet or you can't. It can be learned, to an extent, but the potential must be there from birth. And fifth: discipline."

Shinn's eyes narrowed, noticing the emphasis his mentor placed on the last point. _Is he trying to tell me something?_ he wondered. It was entirely possible; the one thing they truly disagreed on was Orb, and by extension the country's nobility. Shinn had begun to think Ken had something of a point, but even now he held fast to the belief that his family's death was preventable, were it not for the Orb government and the Athha family in particular.

"Discipline?" he finally repeated, when the ace said no more.

"Discipline," Ken confirmed. "The fifth, and possibly most important, of the essential mental traits for a true soldier. The ability to control your own emotions, think and act with a cool head, and carry out orders without hesitation. Except under very specific circumstances, with very rare abilities, uncontrolled anger will get you nowhere on the battlefield except dead. I've seen it happen before. And with discipline, you can truly know yourself… and _that_ is, in the final analysis, the most important quality." He closed his eye, and recited, "'So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will win hundred times in hundred battles. If you know only yourself, but not your opponent, you win one and lose the next. If you do not know yourself or your enemy, you will always lose.'"

"Sun Tzu," Millenia interjected. "You always were fond of him, weren't you, Falcon." It was a statement, not a question… which, coming from _any_ ZAFT officer who'd served during Ken's time in the organization, wasn't a surprise.

"The man's teachings still hold true today," Ken pointed out. "I follow my own 'Art of War', but his writings remain the basis of any strategist's or tactician's training. Speaking of which…" He uncoiled himself and stood, extricating himself from the lotus position with an ease Shinn envied, as he did the same. The ace made it look easy; Shinn felt aches from protesting joints, unused to the posture the older pilot took for granted.

Millenia raised an eyebrow. "Looking to give him a practical demonstration, Falcon?"

He nodded. "If you don't mind, I could use your assistance for a moment. You and Leanne are the only practitioners skilled enough for the task, and since she happens to be at HQ currently…"

She smiled, stepping away from the wall. "My pleasure, old friend."

Shinn glanced between the two, mildly confused. "…What's going on?"

"I'm going to give you a practical example of some of the things we've been discussing, Shinn," Ken answered, stepping to within a few paces of Millenia. "You'll understand in a moment. Millenia," he went on, bowing slightly, "if you could repeat the attack you attempted two months ago…?"

"Of course," she replied, bowing as well; she knew quite well what he was talking about. "Try not to cut off my head with that fancy move, though, will you? I'm not sure decapitation by sword-wielding lunatic is covered in my warranty."

_Huh?_ Shinn blinked, confused by the apparent in-joke… and then his commander moved.

Drawing her blade with almost frightening speed, Millenia Crescent charged forward, and launched herself a meter and a half in the air, bringing the katana down in a brutal chop, angling slightly to her right…

Griever hissed out of her scabbard, coming to a point just above Ken's head, and then swept down at a slight angle to the left, forcing Millenia's blade down prematurely, then arced up –again moving left- and caught her wrist with the flat of the blade, forcing her to drop her own weapon.

And, as before, Griever brushed up past Millenia's arm, flashed to the right, and stopped right against her neck… all in the space of perhaps half a second.

"You're as fast as ever," Millenia said conversationally, as the ace pulled back. She then bent down to pick up her own fallen weapon. "And that was in honor of…?"

"Had I completed the attack," Ken said, directing his answer toward Shinn, "it would've taken off her right arm, and then her head, forming an inverted triangle pattern."

Shinn frowned. "The point being…?" he began, not yet understanding the point of the exercise.

"That was the most difficult –and most lethal- technique in the Ganryu school of kenjustu," the ace answered obliquely. "The Swallow Reversal is, at the least, a disabling attack; had she changed her position on the way down, the first strike could easily have taken off her left arm, instead of deflecting her blade. Had she moved aside after that, she might've spared both arms, but lost her head anyway. Under some circumstances, the Tsubame Gaeshi can be avoided by retreating; under these, however, the technique is unstoppable. Millenia's own momentum prevented her from evading the strike completely. No matter what she did, she would've been out of the fight regardless."

"No argument there," Millenia said dryly. "That move covers every axis; the only evasion is backwards, and inertia precludes that when the enemy has committed to an attack, the way I had." She tilted her head. "I'm guessing, though, that there's a catch, since you never even tried to teach it to your own students."

Ken nodded. "It's extremely difficult to pull off," he explained. "Properly executed, the Swallow Reversal is, under those circumstances, unstoppable… but while no movement of _hers_ could change the outcome, my own actions had to be precise. Each situation is unique: you don't just cut a triangle pattern in the air, you have to adjust your cuts to match the exact positions of your enemy's anatomy. I would've done that differently against someone with any other body structure, or if she'd moved just slightly differently. That is what makes it so difficult to master. Oh, you need to be extremely fast to perform it, and half enough strength to force the blade through bone with a single blow, but those are par for the course for any serious student." _And,_ he didn't add, _a trivial matter for a cyborg._ "The hard part is learning that adjustment. It takes years of practice to train those adjustments into your mind, to act without conscious though in such a complex manner… which is why currently only two practitioners of the Ganryu school are able to perform it: myself… and my own master."

"Explains a lot," Millenia mused. "The odd thing is, I would've expected you to have tried that against Nightwing, during Break The World."

He shook his head. "No mobile suit can perform the Tsubame Gaeshi," he said, quiet certainty in his voice. "It requires a command input speed even Coordinators cannot achieve, and a level of fine control no operating system can possibly grant, by the very nature of mobile suit controls."

"Okay," Shinn said in exasperation, breaking into the conversation again, "I can understand all that. What I don't understand is why you showed that to me again."

Ken turned back to the youth. "It was a demonstration of several of the factors I was just speaking of, Shinn. Experience allowed me to perform the technique; adaptability allowed the strike to connect. It took patience to wait for her to commit to an attack… and discipline to hold my own strike, despite the peril, until the precise moment that it would be most effective."

In point of fact, that was not his only motivation for that choice of example… and he was quite sure that, while Shinn might've been oblivious to it, Millenia most certainly was not. She knew him well enough to catch the implicit message in his display… and his reference to the fact that only two Ganryu school swordsmen could perform that technique.

As Shinn mulled over the words, Millenia watched Ken carefully. _You really think we might become enemies again, don't you, Falcon,_ she thought sadly. _Two years ago, we never even ran into each other while you fought ZAFT, but you obviously know that it wouldn't end so easily this time… Well, then, I'll just have to make sure we _don't_ come into conflict, won't I?_

Shinn glanced up, unaware of his commander's musings, and turned to Ken. "I think I understand what you're saying, Commander," he began, "but there's still something-"

He was interrupted by the gym's door opening, and a man in the silver-trimmed gray of Section Nine walked briskly into the room. "Boss," Tom Delaney said, without preamble, "I think we have a problem. There's something you should see."

Ken looked at him sharply, and began walking even as he pulled a combat headset from a trench coat pocket, fitting it into place over his right ear. "What's the matter?" he asked sharply. "New movement from the Earth Alliance?"

Tom shook his head, following his commander back toward the door. "No movement yet, no," he replied, "but they _have_ finally issued an official response to the PLANTs, in regards to Break The World."

"About time," the Demon Lord grunted, as they disappeared out the door. "Only took them two months…"

Millenia sighed, watching them go. "Well," she said to the air, "it sounds like things are finally about to get moving again… and with _Minerva_ still almost two months from combat readiness."

Shinn looked over at her, his expression unreadable. "What do you think is going on, Commander?"

"Probably demands that the Supreme Council will never give in to," she replied wearily. "It's the same old story, really. Almost four years ago now, they framed us for the Copernicus bombing, after handing us a list of demands that would've dropped our standard of living even more… and then had the temerity to declare war on us for something _they_ arranged. I guess the cycle is about to repeat itself again…"

The black-haired pilot clenched a fist. "Those bastards," he whispered. "They really _do_ want to start a new war… Are they insane? Didn't they learn anything from the last war? Last time, they thought it would be over in weeks, but it lasted almost two years… and ZAFT was a lot weaker then."

Millenia closed her eyes. "Unfortunately," she said softly, "I think they _have_ learned something. They found out the hard way how mobile suits can mean all the difference on the modern battlefield… and I think they realize that none of their Dagger designs have ever quite matched up to the equivalent ZAFT mass-production models. No, Shinn, I have a feeling they've come up with something new… and they're almost ready to spring it on us."

* * *

PLANTs, Aprilius One, Supreme Council Chamber

* * *

"_In the wake of the horrific terrorist attack called by some 'Break The World', it has taken the Atlantic Federation, and the rest of the Earth Alliance, much deliberation to finally come to a conclusion,"_ Atlantic Federation President Albert Copeland announced on the screen. _"This is, after all, the most serious attack ever to strike the Earth, dwarfing even the terrible acts of the Bloody Valentine War. At last, however, we have come to a conclusion… one which, considering the identities of the terrorists, was probably inevitable."_

There was a stir among the members of the PLANT Supreme Council, as those words registered. Only four of them had been on the Council during the War, but they all remembered it too well; they knew what the Earth politician had to be leading up to.

"_Before I state our position,"_ Copeland continued, _"I must stress that, at this time, nothing has been proven against the PLANTs themselves. Their continued status, however, will depend on their response to this message… for my advisors, the other leaders of the Earth Alliance, and I myself have been forced to conclude that the PLANTs bear at least some responsibility for this incident. Therefore, leaders of the PLANT colonies, I now say this: in order to prove your innocence in this matter, you must now turn over the terrorists responsible for this atrocity, compensate the people of Earth for their losses, disarm and dissolve the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty… and all members of the Supreme Council must resign."_ Copeland stared into the camera, as though glaring directly at those that he addressed. _"In recognition of the time involved with several of these conditions, you have two months to carry them out… but if you do not comply within those two months, drastic measures _will_ be taken. The people of Earth deserve no less, ladies and gentlemen."_

_And so it begins,_ Gilbert Durandal thought to himself, keeping his face impassive as the Council members exchanged glances in silence. _With that ultimatum, they've locked themselves into the path that will inevitably lead to the opportunity to institute the Destiny Plan… and perhaps, along the way, they'll successfully remove my greatest problem…_

_And if Section Nine _does_ survive the Earth Alliance's initial attempts to dispose of them, I suppose I'll have to use Crescent and Asuka after all. Either way, the road is open at last…_

It was Orson White, representative of Sextilis City –who had also served on the Council during the Bloody Valentine War- who first broke the silence. "This is outrageous!" he barked angrily. "This is the same kind of garbage they fed Orb two years ago; and while they say nothing about revoking our hard-won autonomy, this demand that we all resign and disarm ZAFT is clearly a step in that direction!"

Alan Clarzec, the new representative of Februarius City, fidgeted, frowning deeply. "This is indeed outrageous," he said, much more quietly than his colleague, "but still… they _have_ the power to back up these demands. If we refuse to comply, the consequences…"

"Don't be ridiculous, Alan," Louise Leitner, longtime representative of Junius City –including during the Bloody Valentine Tragedy- snapped. "I can't believe any one of us would seriously consider giving in to this preposterous ultimatum! Don't we all remember Junius Seven?" she demanded. "_They_ declared war on _us_ just before that, if you'll recall; the only provocation we _ever_ gave them was simply being Coordinators… and protesting the intolerable quotas and limitations they placed on us. _They_ destroyed the _Mandelbrot_ and her convoy; _they_ initiated the Blockade of 69… and _they_ arranged the terrorist attack that killed off the United Nations Secretary General and General Assembly, in the Tragedy of Copernicus, and then framed _us_ for it as a pretext for war!"

Ricardo Orff, of Martius City, flinched back from the woman's irate tirade. "Pardon me," he ventured, "but I thought it was never proven that it was the Earth Alliance that arranged the incident. There was some suggestion of extremist Coordinator groups…"

Parnell Jesek, longtime Councilman from November City, openly scoffed at the idea. "You weren't there during the hearings, Ricardo," he pointed out calmly. "Louise and I were, as were Orson and Ali. Immediately following the incident, the Montague team was recalled for the inquiry, and the man Commander Montague put in charge of arranging security for Chairman Clyne's arrival, no less a person than Commander DiFalco himself, testified before this Council. He gave a clear, concise report on his observations, and subsequent, personal examination of the bombing site, and his conclusion, in his professional opinion, was that Blue Cosmos was responsible. Now, unless you're prepared to suggest that Commander DiFalco was either incompetent or outright lying, I believe we can rule out anything but a deliberate frame-up."

"When you put it that way…" Orff allowed cautiously.

"Still," Eduardo Lee, of Maius City, put in with a frown, "what _are_ we going to do about this? They've given us two months to comply, but I'm not sure even that will be enough, whatever we decide to do."

"It will be enough," Leitner declared, "to fully mobilize ZAFT in the defense of the PLANTs." She turned a challenging gaze on Durandal. "Mister Chairman, I hereby ask, on behalf of the citizens of Junius City, the dead of murdered Junius Seven, and the entire population of the PLANTs, that ZAFT be mobilized, and granted a larger budget, in defense of the Homeland."

"I concur," White said promptly. "We all know, even if some of us would rather not admit it, that all capitulation will bring about is a delay in our deaths. Eventually, the elements of Blue Cosmos remaining the Earth Alliance hierarchy will succeed in ordering our destruction, and if we disarm ZAFT, we will stand no chance at all. I say we make our stand _now,_ Your Excellency."

"Agreed," Junuarius City's Ali Kasim interjected, tone firm. "Not only would giving in merely delay the inevitable… but it would also throw away the sacrifices of the thousands of ZAFT soldiers who gave their lives for the autonomy –and survival- we enjoy today. I would not have their lives be in vain, and neither, I believe, would any of us."

_Interesting dichotomy,_ Durandal thought to himself. He affected an air of careful consideration, as even the more reluctant members of the Council began to nod. _Those who were only recently elected are hesitant, while those who were in office during the War –and so know firsthand of what they speak- are firm in their positions. Instead of inexperienced leaders acting in reckless ignorance, we have war-hardened veterans who know full well the risks ahead, and embracing them anyway…_

He knew better than to speak his actual thoughts on the matter, of course; just as he knew that now was not the time to voice his true intentions. _They are for the good of all, but they need time to realize that… so for now, I'll tell them exactly what they want to hear._

"This is a dangerous path you suggest," he said quietly, turning to face them all. "Preparing ourselves so openly for war risks repeating the destruction of two years ago; mobilizing ZAFT could simply provoke them."

"They're already in motion, Your Excellency," White pointed out grimly. "We know there's been increased activity at Arzachel… and whatever they may care to say about it, we also know that it _was_ the Earth Alliance behind the attack on Armory One, and the interference with _Minerva_'s attempt to stop Break The World."

"Orson's right," Leitner interjected. "And besides," she added, with grim humor, "one of their demands is that we hand over the terrorists responsible for Break The World. Considering that they're dead, we've already failed in our negotiations, before they've even begun."

Durandal closed his eyes with a sigh. "I would still like to find a peaceful resolution to this crisis," he said at length, "but as you say, that may not be possible… and the Bloody Valentine Tragedy _is_ still fresh in the minds of our citizens. In all probably many, if not most, would agree with you… so, all things considered, it appears we have no choice."

Leitner looked at him shrewdly. "Then the motion is approved, Your Excellency?"

He nodded, manner suddenly decisive. "Yes, it is. ZAFT is hereby directed to mobilize, and is authorized to begin taking whatever measures necessary to protect the Homeland."

* * *

Section Nine Local Headquarters, Orb Union, Situation Room

* * *

Ken shook his head in utter disgust, as Copeland finished his broadcast. "Bastards," he remarked, almost conversationally. "Still, I suppose it was inevitable that they'd react this way. I'm only surprised that it took them this long to reach a decision." 

"Public opinion is more divided this time around, Boss," Tom pointed out, standing at his leader's right shoulder. "Support for the original War was overwhelming, since the PLANTs' refusal to ship any more resources to Earth was putting a big dent in the sponsor nations' economies. And, of course, the people hadn't truly seen what a war of such scale would be like."

Section Nine's leader nodded thoughtfully. "So what changed?" Acknowledged strategist he might be, Ken nonetheless knew his understanding of civilians and public opinion was rather lacking in comparison to his thorough knowledge of the military mindset.

"Muruta Azrael, for one," Rick Chung supplied, standing at the controls to the huge wall display. "Maybe you don't realize this, Major, but Azrael was out of control even for an Earth Alliance partisan. He got away with his nuclear attack in Africa because of the obvious military implications; that diversion allowed him to retake Victoria, after all. The earlier attack on Orb, on the other hand, raised more than a few eyebrows."

"I remember that," Murrue Ramius put in, stepping into the room. "At the time, we weren't sure whether or not Azrael could get away with further nuclear attacks; it was the cause of quite a bit of concern for us."

Ken quickly turned to her. "Murrue! This is a pleasant surprise." Giving her a quick hug, he added, "Shouldn't you be teaching about now?"

"It's Saturday, Ken," she informed him with a laugh. "You do remember what the weekend is, don't you?"

The ace blinked, then rubbed his eyepatch sheepishly. "Right, right… Sorry. You know how it gets in the busier times."

"Yes, I do know," Murrue murmured, suddenly somber. "And if this isn't a 'busy' time, I don't know what is…"

She'd not arrived in time to watch the broadcast, but she'd heard the salient points on her car radio on the way to the HQ building… and so she knew full well what had to be going through her fiancé's mind. _Well,_ she reminded herself, _I knew something like this would be coming from the moment Chairwoman Canaver sold us on this scheme… and even now, much as I'd like to, I can't deny that it was the sensible thing to do. At the time, Ken was the only real choice to lead the unit, and even now, only Rau Le Creuset could really handle it in his place… and it'll be some time yet before anyone is prepared to trust _him_ in that role…_

The uneasy silence lasted for several minutes, until Rick gently cleared his throat. "In actual fact, Murrue," he told his old teacher, "he _couldn't_ have gotten away with another nuclear strike. Orb had even his cronies in the Earth Alliance cabinet concerned; public opinion was getting even more restless than that. Had he tried anything more, at least on Earth itself, they'd have demanded his head. I know my own countrymen weren't happy, and for once they weren't alone in that."

"That fits with some of the other bits of data we've picked up," Leanne Eldridge noted, standing at Ken's left shoulder. "I hear people thought Azrael went a bit overboard with the attempted destruction of the PLANTs."

"A bit," Rick agreed. "If he'd pulled everything off without a hitch, he might've even gotten away with it… but my sources tell me he was doomed from the moment Fourth Fleet went up."

Ken nodded in understanding. "The price of victory was too high," he mused. "Over two thousand people died in that one strike, combine that with the other losses we –and ZAFT- inflicted on them, and the final cost to the Earth Forces was somewhere around ten thousand…"

"Right," the Equatorial Union native confirmed. "Had Azrael made it home alive, he likely would've been executed by his own people over that fiasco; he got overzealous, and paid for it. As it was, the military quietly began a Board of Inquiry into the incident, and only spared Admiral Hamilton a posthumous court martial because they deemed he had only done what he could to salvage the bad situation Azrael put him in. His son, I think, escaped notice on the strength of his low rank, his tertiary position as a pilot, and the fact that he's surprisingly good at his job."

"I noticed," Ken said dryly, and turned his thoughts inward for a time.

_This is it,_ he thought. _The outbreak of a new war… I've been expecting it, but that doesn't make it much easier. I know I'll be pulled into again, if only because we're going to need every good pilot we can get our hands on… but that's for later. For now… All right. High probability of a new nuclear strike. Logos is ruthless enough to try it, and they can probably manipulate public opinion enough to get away with it, if only barely. And if the PLANTs fall, even Orb will be sucked under in short order…_

"All right," the Demon Lord said finally. "Leanne, get word to HQ to prepare _Asmodeus_ for another trip; if the Earth Forces do attack, I want to give them all the help we can. Just one thing, though: tell them to offload all of _Asmodeus'_ nuclear warheads."

"Got it, Boss," the Gray Demon acknowledged, and quickly departed the room.

"Why no nukes?" Murrue asked curiously, after Leanne had gone. "I'd think you'd want all the firepower you can get, under the circumstances."

Ken shook his head. "A hunch, Murrue. ZAFT is bound to anticipate a nuclear attack, and if they do, I don't want our people caught in any countermeasure they might've cooked up." Now fully into "decisive commander mode" –as Mu had once put it- he turned to his other surviving Demon. "Tom, what's the _Eldridge_'s status?"

Tom shook his head. "Not happening, Boss," he answered, correctly interpreting his boss's question. "She's nowhere _near_ completion. By the time she can fight, the opening moves of the new war will be long over."

The Demon Lord closed his eye. "I see," he murmured. "Then all we can do… is pray that ZAFT really _does_ have something new up their sleeves…"

* * *

Orb Union, Morgenroete Harbor, _Minerva,_ Officer's Lounge, December 8th, C.E. 73

* * *

"You guys hear the news?" Lunamaria Hawke asked of the compartment in general. "About the Earth Alliance's ultimatum?" 

"Yes," Rey Za Burrel answered quietly, sitting in one corner of the compartment. "I heard the Captain and Mr. Trine talking about it earlier. I suppose they've finally decided to make their move…"

It hadn't taken more than a few hours for the news to reach the _Minerva_'s crew. A few of them had been out exploring Orb, but most had been in position to catch repeats of Copeland's broadcast… and their reactions were uniform in disgust.

Vino Dupre and Yolant Kent, however, looked quite interesting; having been buried in _Minerva_'s repairs, they'd not gotten as much detail as their fellows had. "I heard something about it," Vino said with a frown, "but none of the details. Just how bad is it?"

"Bad, Vino," Luna's sister Meyrin told him, looking worried. "Captain Gladys had me send a message to the Homeland about it, and I was there when we got a reply. The Earth Alliance wants ZAFT to be disarmed, for the PLANTs to give monetary compensation to the survivors of Break The World, and hand over the perpetrators, and for the entire Supreme Council to resign."

"That's crazy!" Yolant protested. "If we disarm ZAFT, the PLANTs are helpless… and we couldn't hand over Sato's terrorists if we wanted to! They all died, and the Earth Alliance knows it!" "They don't care, Yolant," Shinn Asuka said flatly, leaning against the bulkhead next to the compartment's hatch. "They don't even care that there's no way we can pay compensation to the families of billions of people, or about the chaos getting rid of the Supreme Council would cause. Don't you get it by now? All they want is to _destroy_ the PLANTs. These demands are just a way of justifying it."

Heads nodded all around at that. None of them had been in ZAFT when the War ended, but except for Shinn they'd all been in the PLANTs during it. The machinations of the Earth Alliance were nothing new to them; none of them were surprised that nothing had truly changed since the Junius Treaty's ratification.

"So no matter what happens," Luna said softly, gazing at the deck, "there's going to be war, isn't there? And then… we're going to be right in the middle of it."

"That's the Major's guess," Shinn agreed. "Section Nine believes the Earth Alliance is already mobilizing, and will attack within minutes of the deadline passing in February."

Rey glanced up, eyes narrow. "Section Nine's been wrong before," he pointed out quietly. "They didn't expect the attack on Armory One, remember."

"There's a difference between missing a sneak attack and predicting all-out war, Rey," Impulse's pilot shot back. "The Major's made a living at anticipating the enemy's strategy for almost six years now; and while he's missed a few things, he's also got a good record for following major trends. And besides, it doesn't take ZAFT's greatest ace to see where things are going, does it?" He shook his head. "Those bastards… it's just like two years ago…"

Meyrin glanced worriedly from one pilot to the next. "But what are _we_ supposed to do, if they declare war?" she asked anxiously. "We've been through a few skirmishes, sure, but not full-scale battles. Until a couple of months ago, we'd never even been in combat at all…"

"No one starts out as a veteran, Meyrin," Shinn told her, expression softening uncharacteristically. "The Major taught me that much. If we keep our eyes open, and think before we act, we'll be fine. I _know_ we can handle this." For emphasis, he slammed his right fist into his left palm, and smiled grimly.

Meyrin leaned back in her chair, reassured… but Rey Za Burrel's eyes narrowed even further, scrutinizing his fellow pilot. _He's starting to come out of his shell,_ he thought to himself. _I haven't seen him that open before… and he's calmer about the Earth Forces than he used to be. That will make him more effective on the battlefield… but potentially harder to control. The Major… I'd better suggest to Gil that DiFalco be removed as soon as possible. Shinn is becoming more useful to us through DiFalco's tutelage, but if left alone he might turn Shinn into too much of a free-thinker. If that happens before we're ready, the consequences to the Destiny Plan could be…_ He shook his head minutely. _Commander Crescent is the answer. We just need to see to it that she does what's necessary…  
_

* * *

The Moon, Arzachel Base, Mobile Suit Hangar, January 4th, C.E. 74

* * *

"Typical of the PLANTs," Lieutenant Commander Jonas Pike remarked to his commander. "Stubborn to the end…" 

"It's how they've always operated," newly-promoted Commander Allen C. Hamilton agreed. "They were stubborn when the sponsor nations started pressing them for higher quotas, and they were stubborn when we blew up one of their colonies. It's in their nature, I suppose…"

"Not real bright of them, if you ask me," Lieutenant (Senior Grade) Oscar "Scar" Goldberg said with a snort. "Don't they know they're just going to get blasted back into the Stone Age if they keep up this meaningless resistance?"

"Don't underestimate them, Scar," Hamilton said sharply. "I've fought Coordinators in a lot of different battles now, and I can tell you that they don't go down _that_ easily. The War lasted nineteen months, despite our numerical superiority. They're tenacious, skilled, and innovative; take them lightly and neither you nor Nova will survive this battle, understood?"

"Of course, Commander," Goldberg said promptly; and if there was still an edge of disbelief in his tone, Hamilton chose to let it pass… this time.

The trio of pilots stood before two of the Project Zeta mobile suits; having been completed a month earlier, and undergone numerous field tests since, their final month of testing was to take place on the Moon and in open space… before they participated in Operation Fatman.

Little had changed in the designs since Hamilton had first shown them to Neo Roanoke; the only change in equipment loadout was the use of Variable, instead of standard, phase-shift armor. That change had not slowed construction much, and now the completed models were finally in the hands of their designated pilots.

Jonas Pike had been assigned to Gat-X506 Sigma; his cool, steady precision with mobile suit weaponry made him a natural to handle the all-purpose mobile suit, leaving his younger colleague to the machine's less accurate brother. In his hands, Sigma had acquitted itself well in exercises, and had become known for its colors space-black with white trim.

Where Pike was cool, unflappable, and an excellent marksman –with little interest in the genetic differences of the war, being more concerned with ideology- Scar Goldberg could've been designed as his exact antithesis. Excitable, temperamental, and possessing all the tactical subtlety of a bull wearing a corset, he was known for being a phenomenally bad shot with any weapon that came his way. Capable of missing with anything up to and including self-guided missiles, those he served with often joked –only half-humorously- that Goldberg couldn't hit a moon if he was standing on it. His teammates resolutely maintained that if, by some miracle, he correctly aimed a weapon, it would promptly be discovered that he was pointing the wrong end of it at the enemy, and instead kill himself.

Therefore, of course, he had been assigned GAT-X507 Nova. Hamilton had briefly argued against it… until Vice Admiral Taggart had informed him it was because even Goldberg would have difficulty failing to hit something with a nuclear bomb.

He still held some reservations as to whether Goldberg would remember to point it at the PLANTs instead of at himself, but Hamilton accepted the decision anyway.

Although, of course, he was intensely grateful his own Zeta would not be ready till _after_ Operation Fatman. _If nothing else,_ he thought to himself, _I'd rather not have to fly alongside that riotous paint scheme any sooner than I have to._

The first thing Goldberg had done, after climbing aboard Nova, was to alter its VPS to a veritable all-out brawl of color, a camouflage pattern made mostly out of orange, black, and neon yellow. Hamilton was uncertain if this was to show his utter contempt for anyone foolish enough to challenge a mobile suit equipped with a nuclear bazooka… or an attempt to blind any unwary adversaries with the calamitous clash of color.

_Maybe both,_ he reasoned. _I nearly dropped dead on the spot myself, seeing that for the first time…_

Shaking off thoughts of the relative merits of the pilots, he returned his attention to the present. "Something both of you should be aware of," Hamilton informed the pair. "If the PLANTs choose to fight, there's a good chance Section Nine will engage, as well; we know DiFalco is connected to them, and their raid on Greenland last year shows quite clearly where their sympathies lie. Now, I somehow doubt that will include the Preybird, but stay on your guard anyway. Their pilots won't be like other Coordinators you've faced in the past; the 'Major' obviously chose his personnel, especially his pilots, very carefully indeed."

"Not to mention," Pike mused, "the small fact that _they_ have nuclear weapons, too."

"Yes," Hamilton agreed, "there's that, too… which, taken together, is why I'm going to be running you both through some very nasty simulations for the next month. We're going to take a worst case scenario –fighting _Asmodeus, Odin,_ and both of DiFalco's surviving subordinates, among others- and run it until either you two drop, or you find a way to survive consistently." He lowered his voice, glancing around briefly to make sure no one was in earshot. "That, gentlemen, does not necessarily mean by blasting your way through everything in sight. If it comes down to a truly rough situation, I expect you to retreat immediately. Your units are more valuable in other theaters than in this nuclear strike."

Goldberg looked at him in incomprehension, causing Hamilton to once again regret that such a skilled pilot had to be so dense in other areas, but Pike slowly nodded. "Even against orders from Lord Djibril, Sir?" he asked quietly… with the air of someone confirming what he already suspected.

"That's right," Project Zeta's lead pilot said flatly. "If there are any repercussions, I'll take responsibility… and contact Admiral Sykes directly. I'm afraid my estimation of Lord Djibril's military expertise is… somewhat less than my estimation of Azrael." He shook his head. "Azrael was too concerned about the genetic conflict, just as Djibril, but at least he was smart enough to let his fleet commanders fight their own battles. He gave objectives, and occasionally strategies, but he had some idea of his limitations. Djibril…"

"Concur," Pike said simply. "Commander, may I speak freely?"

Hamilton nodded. "Go ahead. I've no use for subordinates who blindly follow their commander's lead."

"In that case, Sir, I must respectfully suggest that this nuclear attack is a bad idea," Sigma's pilot said bluntly. "It's been tried twice before; by now, ZAFT would have to be full of rock-brained idiots not to have come up with some kind of contingency plan."

The commander once again glanced around for potential eavesdroppers, then lowered his voice even further. "For what it's worth, Jonas, I happen to agree with you. So does Admiral Taggart, and, I suspect, Admiral Sykes. Unfortunately, Lord Djibril –and, to a lesser extent, President Copeland- is adamant about this. He wants the PLANTs obliterated, and he wants them obliterated _now._ I suspect it's a combination of bigotry and a subconscious fear of being subjected to the same ridicule as Azrael, for not ending the war fast enough."

"Then that's what we'll do," Goldberg said firmly, slamming a fist into his palm. "We'll be in and out in no more than two hours… less than that, if Admiral Kimmer's people are on the ball."

Hamilton sighed inwardly. _Brilliant at maneuvers, competent up close… but as ignorant of politics and strategy as he is of how to aim. Well, I can always hope that Escher painting of a color scheme will give his enemies seizures._

"That's essentially the idea, Scar," he said aloud, noting with amusement Pike's stifled snort at Goldberg's naivety. "And that's why I'm going to put you through those sims. By the time you're to deploy, I want it to be _their_ worst-case scenario, not yours."

* * *

Atmosphere Above Orb Union, ZAFT Trans-Atmospheric Transport, January 6th, C.E. 74

* * *

"I still can't quite believe they're letting us go down to Earth at a time like this," Dearka Elsman, sitting in the transport's pilot's seat, remarked to his copilot. "Going on leave for a full month… Okay, I can understand why _Yzak_ went along with it, but I can't figure out why the higher-ups allowed it." 

Miriallia Haw, Dearka's copilot –having taken flying lessons since the previous war- and girlfriend, shrugged. "Maybe they're confident the attack won't happen until you get back? I mean, Chairman Durandal does seem pretty sure of himself… And Ken _was_ one of ZAFT's top people, a few years back. Maybe they figure his wedding is important enough to justify it."

The blonde-haired pilot shook his head. "Who knows? But I don't think they're expecting the Earth Forces to hold off on the attack till we get back; if they did, I don't think they'd have ordered me to take the Buster with me."

To that, the war correspondent had no answer. She, too, was puzzled by the stipulation in the orders granting Dearka leave to attend his best friend's wedding in Orb; it had been a long time since Dearka had flown GAT-X103 Buster, even in exercises, because of the G-weapon's nuclear reactor. With the signing of the Junius Treaty, the machine had been promptly placed into storage, reactor powered down, while Dearka himself was assigned a new ZAKU Warrior.

He'd flown that ZAKU, in Gunner configuration, in the unofficial first battles of the new war, and had

fully expected to remain with it, at least until war was formally declared; after all, while the Earth Sphere in general tolerated Orb's clandestine retention of ZGMF-X10A Freedom, they would be far less lenient about _ZAFT_ using nuclear-powered mobile suits.

Instead, however, Chairman Durandal had discretely instructed Dearka to take the Buster out of storage, and load it onto the transport he was flying to Orb… with authorization to full reactivate it at his discretion.

_Not that I'm complaining,_ Dearka mused, guiding the craft through reentry. _I'll take the Buster over that ZAKU any day; better armed, better armored, and more maneuverable… but why let me take it while the Junius Treaty is still in effect? And, more importantly… why let me go when war is so obviously imminent?_

"The only thing I can come up with," Dearka said slowly, several minutes into reentry, "is that they don't think I'll be needed. Now, with Shiho's CGUE DEEP Arms and Yzak's Duel to hold the fort, I guess I can kind of understand that… if I were flying just another ZAKU. Since I've got Buster with me, though, it kinda makes me wonder."

"…Maybe they've got a new weapon that they haven't bothered telling most of the teams about yet?" Mir suggested hesitantly. "Something they expect to even the odds between ZAFT and the Earth Forces, maybe some weapon that's still classified?"

He shrugged. "Could be, I guess; and if I were Falcon, I could probably just call up somebody at R&D and get some answers. Since I can't, though, I have to wing it." He scratched his head, with the hand not busy steering them through reentry turbulence. "I guess it's also possible that they think _Minerva_ could use some extra help, in the event of an attack on them. After all, they've just got two ZAKUs, Strike Noir, and the Impulse; not half bad, but kind of puny compared to the sheer might the Alliance could chuck at them… especially with Nightwing and whatever that psycho Hamilton's been cooking up."

Mir reached across and gripped her boyfriend's shoulder. "Whatever it is," she said quietly, "we're not going to figure it out by ourselves. We'll be in Orb when whatever's coming comes, so we might as well just ride it out, huh? Focus on Ken's wedding; that's the best news we've had in a while."

Dearka smiled. "Yeah, I guess you got a point… I gotta say, though, I was kinda surprised when he finally decided to settle down… especially with Murrue Ramius. It took him so long to put Laura's death behind him that I was starting to think he'd never find someone else…" He chuckled, shaking his head. "Guess I was wrong about that. But man… Murrue Ramius? That's still just so weird…"

* * *

Section Nine Local Headquarters, Orb Union, Situation Room

* * *

In the dimly-lit room, the soldier known –in this place- as the Major watched the wall-filling display impassively. _So,_ he thought to himself, _it's beginning… Even as they talk about giving the PLANTs time to consider the ultimatum and then comply with its stipulations, the Earth Alliance prepares to attack no matter the answer…_

"It's confirmed, Major," Rick Chung said from behind him, interrupting the pilot's reverie. "Lieutenant Commander Cateau called it in from HQ: Arzachel is definitely buzzing with activity… and so is Daedalus, though she can't figure out why."

Ken waved a hand dismissively. "Daedalus is irrelevant; that's on the dark side of the Moon, out of line of sight for the PLANTs. Also, their main lunar operations are at Arzachel. We'll examine Daedalus' activities when the attack is past."

"Roger that." Rick handed his boss a folder. "Here's the data on Arzachel it looks like they've dug deep into their old nuclear stockpiles for this one, Sir. I just don't see that they could've built that many _new_ nuclear warheads in the time since the deadline was first announced."

"No," the Major murmured, "probably not; even with nuclear power plants online again, it takes time to gather _that_ much weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. Not to mention tritium, if they're using fusion weapons…"

Trailing off, he turned his attention to the reconnaissance photos discrete surveillance by one Nicol Amalfi –and his stealthy mobile suit- had brought back to Section Nine's orbital base. _Let's see… Looks like the Earth Alliance isn't too concerned about other people seeing what they're doing right now, eh? But then, they probably don't realize anyone can get close enough to see this much detail. Raiden's continued existence isn't that well known…_

On the other hand, Ken realized, it was possible they _did_ suspect… and simply didn't care. The sheer weight of forces he could see on the Moon's surface indicated that they didn't have much reason to be worried. _After all, the PLANTs wouldn't dare venture near there just now, and we're still such a small group compared to any proper military, so…_

He swore viciously under his breath, eye narrowing as he gazed intently at the last two photos.

"So, you see it too, eh, Major?" Rick said with a humorless smile. "I thought you'd be, ah, interested in that; I sure was, when Commander Cateau sent the report down."

"Yes, I'd say I'm interested," Ken said grimly, staring at the imagery. "I can't say those mobile suits surprise me much; it's been three months since Hamilton flew that prototype against us. But _this…"_ He shook his head, grappling with the implications of the final photo. _"Three_ new _Archangel_-class ships? The one we found months ago at L1, and two more at Arzachel?"

The other man nodded grimly. "I'm afraid so, Major. Nicol got close enough to see them with his own eyes; as far as he could tell, they were the real thing. On the bright side, though," he added, nodding at the photos, "it doesn't look like they're planning to use them in the upcoming attack. There's no sign they're loading any nuclear weapons on the _Archangels."_

_Lucky for all of us,_ Ken thought to himself, frowning fractionally. _The last thing we need is nuclear-armed _Archangel_-class ships… but then of course Hamilton didn't use them two years ago…_

The Major sighed. "It doesn't really matter," he said quietly. "They don't need them."

Rick tilted his head. "So _Archangel_-class ships really _are_ that dangerous, then," he said quietly. "Just how bad is it, Major? The Earth Alliance didn't deploy any against the EURM…"

Ken rubbed his eyepatch in thought. "They're as dangerous as they come," he said after a moment's thought. "Bogey One would've been eaten alive by just one _Archangel._ For that matter, _we_ nearly were, both at Mendel and at Second Jachin. Jim Hamilton was smart and crafty, and he knew what his ship was capable of. Azrael was no slouch either, and between the two of them, it took me nearly getting blown up, Murrue lashing out in revenge, and Kira getting very, very angry to take down _Dominion._ It could've gone the other way all too easily…" He shook his head. "We need to speed up construction of the _Eldridge,_ if we can. The forces we've got simply won't be enough…"

Silence descended on the room for a time, broken only by the occasional keystrokes of Section Nine analysts and controllers working at various computers. Both of the higher-ranking officers ignored the quiet sound, instead reflecting on their latest encounters with the Earth Forces.

For Rick Chung, it had been in the raid on the Phantom Pain base in Greenland; he'd led the ground element there, escorted by a trio of Section Nine pilots in Murasames the organization had bought from Orb. He'd been in a position then to take note of the improvements in the Earth Alliance's mobile suit designs, both in mass-produced models –the new Dagger Ls, as well as two of the older 105 Daggers- and their new G-weapon, the Strike Noir.

Rick had personally flown the GAT-X105E to the waiting Section Nine transport, and during that brief flight he'd come to realize the Earth Forces were learning from the mistakes they'd made in the previous war… and from the way the EURM had humiliated them in the Equatorial Union Civil War.

Likewise, Ken's own latest clash with the Earth Alliance had left him uneasy. Battling against the man who had identified himself as Neo Roanoke, flying Preybird's dark twin Nightwing, had been a sobering experience. He'd come away from that fight with a strategic victory… but a tactical draw. The Phantom Pain pilot had been far better than most pilots Ken had fought… and so, for the first time in a long time, someone had fought against Ken DiFalco and gotten away with an intact mobile suit.

All that led to Ken's new determination to build up Section Nine's forces. The _Eldridge_ –named not for the still-living Gray Demon, but rather for the ship from the infamous Philadelphia Experiment- was only the tip of the iceberg…

"Major?" one of the analysts called, breaking the ominous quiet. "There's a ZAFT transport shuttle coming down from orbit; it's scheduled to land in about ten minutes."

Ken glanced over at the man. "And you're telling me this because…?"

The analyst looked sheepish. "Sorry, Sir. I just thought you'd like to know that the shuttle's pilot is reported to be one Dearka Elsman, with Miriallia Haw as copilot."

"Dearka and Miriallia?" Ken repeating, blinking in surprise. "What are they… oh, of course." He smiled faintly. "I forgot; Dearka did say he thought they'd be able to make it in time for the wedding… Rick," the Major said, turning to the other pilot, "I'd like you to hold the fort here for now. I've got to go greet a couple of old friends."

"No problem, Major," Rick acknowledged, with a small smile of his own. "Besides, it's not like there's a war on yet; you _can_ take a day off every now and then, without everything blowing up in your face."

Ken merely waved a hand as he departed, trench coat fluttering behind him… but as he left, in the back of his mind he knew that "yet" was the operative word…

* * *

Orb Union, Kaguya Island Spaceport

* * *

By the time Ken had completed the circuitous routing necessary to conceal his point of origin –and thus his double life- and arrived at the newly-built Kaguya Spaceport, the transport was already on final approach to one of the huge main runways. 

He watched it come down with a critical eye, noting how well the pilot flew. _Hm… they didn't pick an ordinary pilot to bring Dearka to Earth; there aren't that many that can handle a big bird like that so well… In fact, that looks like Dearka's style._ He chuckled inwardly. _Just like me, or any other pilot: hates to be in any position but the pilot's seat…_

Then, as the shuttle touched down, he took a closer look at it, and frowned minutely. _Wait a second… that's no personnel transport. That's built to carry mobile suits. What under the sun is he bringing with him, and why?_

Climbing out of his car, Ken flashed his civilian ID at the spaceport guard station and walked on through the terminal, heading straight for the tarmac. Even in his civilian identity, his connections in Orb's government permitted him a certain freedom of movement, which he shamelessly used now in his haste to greet his friends.

The shuttle had come to a complete stop by the time Ken crossed the terminal and exited onto the tarmac, and by the time he neared the shuttle itself, its hatch opened, disgorging a blonde-haired man in ZAFT red, followed closely by a brunette woman in civilian clothing, with a camera slung around her neck. They were both looking around intently, clearly searching for someone in particular.

Ken ended the search with a wave of his hand. "Over here, amigos," he called, raising his voice to be heard over the engine noise of an inbound military VTOL.

Dearka Elsman immediately altered course, striding quickly toward his friend, grinning broadly.. "There you are, you old pirate," he greeted, and clapped Ken's shoulder the moment he was in reach. "I was wondering if you'd be able to fit us into your busy schedule!"

Miriallia Haw shook her head, smiling fondly. "C'mon, Dearka, this is Ken we're talking about; he could probably rearrange a battle if he had to." Dearka stepped aside as she moved forward, and she gave the ace a quick hug. "Nice to see you again, Ken."

"Likewise, Miriallia," Ken said with a small smile of his own, and returned the embrace before stepping back. "I haven't seen you two much in a while now. How are things going up in the PLANTs?" As he spoke, he gestured for them to accompany him back through the spaceport terminal.

Dearka shrugged. "Could be worse," he admitted, falling into step at his friend's side, one arm wrapped around Mir's waist. "Break The World had everybody off-balance for a month or so, but things calmed down pretty fast… at least until the Earth Alliance's ultimatum."

"It put Yzak in a bad mood for days," Mir recalled. "It was all Shiho could do to keep him from destroying half the breakable objects on the ship."

Ken allowed himself a faint smile, unsurprised. Shiho Hahnenfuss had, once upon a time, been a member of the Gray Demons, and still bore the gray feathers on her uniform collar; she was also more than casually interested in her current team commander, though Yzak Joule remained blissfully ignorant of the matter. Even with his ignorance, though, she had perhaps more of a calming effect on him than even Dearka did.

"So she managed to calm him down, did she?" Ken mused now. "Somehow, I'm not surprised…"

"Well," Dearka said slowly, "that wasn't the final straw. What really did it was one notation in the orders granting me leave to come to Earth for the wedding."

The ace looked at him sharply. "Care to explain that, amigo?"

His friend took a deep breath. "Falcon… that transport is also carrying the Buster."

Ken's eye narrowed instantly, as he took in the unexpected information. _The Buster… one of only five nuclear-powered machines left over from the War not to be under Section Nine jurisdiction, and thus still subject to the provisions of the Junius Treaty. If Dearka was _ordered_ to take it out of storage…_

"I think, amigo," he said softly, "you should fill me in on what's been happening up in space lately…"

* * *

Earth Alliance Forces _Archangel_-class Mobile Assault Ship _Ophanim,_ Bridge, February 9th, C.E. 74

* * *

Vice Admiral Cyril Kimmer idly tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair, watching as the specs on the main display slowly refined themselves into recognizable shapes: spaceborne hourglasses, with reflective panels attached to their centers. 

_About time we got this show on the road,_ the Atlantic Federation native thought disgustedly. _Only took them four months to finally get the ball rolling… That Copeland is far too cautious for his own good, or ours._

Kimmer recalled the endless hours of arguments between Copeland and Djibril that had led to this point. Djibril had advocated an attack as soon as all forces were in readiness, and Admiral Sykes had backed him; Azrael, Sutherland, and Webster, on the other hand, had been more inclined to accept Copeland's argument: that to attack before the ultimatum's deadline had passed would be to lose all credibility with the world in general.

He snorted, remembering Djibril's accusation –probably accurate- that Copeland had been afraid of Orb… and how the revelation of Project Zeta's successes had finally convinced the "old men" to at least make sure the fleet was close enough to the PLANTs to engage within minutes of the deadline expiring.

"Too bad Admiral Novak isn't here, though," Kimmer mused, mostly to himself. _"Ophanim_ and _Kyriotite _should be more than enough, especially with Nova and Sigma, but still…"

"With any luck, we shouldn't even be getting into the fighting ourselves at all, Admiral," _Ophanim_'s captain, Andre Lewis, pointed out. "We're just the decoys, after all; and there's not much sense in getting the Fleet Commander too close to the line of fire if it can be helped."

"Point, Andre," Kimmer conceded unwillingly. "Still, I can't say I've ever liked playing the decoy, or leading from the rear… and having commanded Battleship Squadron 17 in Fifth Fleet during Second Jachin, I have a certain skepticism regarding the viability of another nuclear attack."

Lewis frowned. "All due respect, Sir, but that was thanks to the presence of GENESIS and True ZAFT's METEOR units. I don't think we're likely to encounter either one today, with GENESIS' plans destroyed and True ZAFT long gone."

"Perhaps not," the admiral said quietly, "but nonetheless… Well, I guess this is what I get for wishing for the attack: at the last minute, I start getting cold feet." He chuckled quietly. "Anyway, forget about it, Andre. I'm probably just being paranoid."

"Probably so, Sir," Lewis agreed. He could afford to be frank with Kimmer; he'd been the CO of Kimmer's last flagship, the _Nelson_-class battleship _Achilles,_ before becoming Kimmer's flag captain on _Ophanim._ Their working relationship went back several years now, giving Lewis a certain amount of leeway when dealing with his admiral.

Their mutual recollections were interrupted a few minutes later by _Ophanim_'s helmsman, Lieutenant (Senior Grade) Roger Simpson. "We'll be within range of the PLANTs in five minutes, Captain," he reported.

"Fourth Fleet confirms, Captain," Communications Officer Lieutenant Lyle Ogden added. "All ships reporting nearing preplanned positions."

Lewis nodded. "Thank you, gentlemen." He glanced over at Kimmer. "Admiral?"

"The word is given, Captain Lewis," Kimmer replied formally. "Initiate combat operations."

* * *

PLANTs, Aprilius One, Supreme Council Chairman's Office

* * *

The instant alarms began blaring throughout the colony, Gilbert Durandal had a fair idea of what was going on. _So,_ he thought to himself, _it begins… right on schedule. Well, at least the Earth Forces are punctual, if nothing else._

ZAFT's reply to the Earth Alliance's ultimatum had been utter silence. At the insistence of the Supreme Council, Louise Leitner chief among them, the PLANTs had effectively cut off contact with the Earth Alliance, going about their own business in silence. In that way, they had made it clear they considered the ultimatum beneath their notice.

And they had spent the time since then making certain they could survive the coming attack.

As Durandal anticipated, it wasn't long before a ZAFT staff officer entered his office, face taut. "Your Excellency," Peter Williams, officer in charge of Aprilius One's defenses, began formally, "I must inform you that an Earth Alliance fleet has just reached Lagrange Point 5, and is refusing to respond to any attempts at communication."

The Chairman of the PLANT Supreme Council merely sat there for several moments, to all appearances taking in the news; and, in fact, appearances weren't too far off. _The curtain is risen,_ he mused, _and the next act has begun… and here is where we must begin to tread carefully. If we act incautiously, the Earth Alliance could actually succeed, and all will be for naught…_

"Do you have any count on their numbers?" he said at length, maintaining his outward calm.

"Three _Agamemnons,"_ Williams replied grimly, "a dozen _Nelsons,_ and twenty-four _Drakes._ Also, a number of Dagger-type mobile suits have been launched; we don't have an accurate count on them yet. It appears that the Earth Alliance's entire First Fleet is here. Also, fragments of intercepted radio transmissions make reference to Fourth Fleet, as well; we're not clear if it's actually in the area, however."

Durandal nodded thoughtfully. "I see… Instruct all ZAFT forces to deploy immediately; I leave their exact orders to your discretion, Peter. And," he added, "in case the Fourth Fleet _is_ here… order the _Marie Curie_ to charge the new system; we may need it at any moment."

"At once, Your Excellency," Williams acknowledged with a respectful nod. With a crisp salute, he left the room, rushing to begin the defense against the hostile fleets.

After he'd gone, Durandal smiled to himself. "Yes," he murmured, "the next move in the game has been made… but for good or ill, I wonder? If they _have_ made the mistake of bringing nuclear weapons with them, this battle will be a short one." His smiled widened fractionally. "The _Marie Curie…_ appropriate that a ship named for the woman who paved the way for the Manhattan Project, then refused to participate, should strike a blow against the descendents of that project…"

Despite the gravity of the situation –which even he could affect little, until the battle was over- Durandal was pleased with the progress of his plan… but even so, he had to wonder what his old friend would've thought of the whole matter. _Knowing Rau, he would wonder why I was even bothering to try to save this world… He, too, wanted to end the suffering –if only because of his own- but he had such very different ideas…_

There was, of course, one other matter to consider. Section Nine was the one party in the conflict that he was uncertain as to his ability to predict; it had been difficult enough when he was ignorant of "the Major's" identity, but knowing that the organization was led by Ken DiFalco actually made it worse. His ultimate objective was plain, but his methods could reach a level of deviousness that surpassed Durandal's own…

* * *

_Voltaire,_ Hangar

* * *

Within minutes of the alarms beginning to blare throughout every ship and military facility at Lagrange Point 5, Commander Yzak Joule had already changed into his flightsuit, and reached his mobile suit in record time. 

"What I'd give to have Dearka here," he muttered under his breath, as he strapped into the machine's seat and began an abbreviated preflight checklist. "Going on leave to attend Commander DiFalco's wedding… Nice timing, Dearka."

"Could be worse, Commander," His acting second in command said, from her own unit. "At least you've got the Duel, eh? No matter what new toys the Earth Forces may have, I doubt they've got much that can stand up to _you."_

"Maybe not, Shiho," Yzak grunted, "but you know what your old boss would say to that: quantity has a quality all its own."

"Can't have everything," Shiho Hahnenfuss replied cheerfully.

His only reply was another grunt, but he had to admit there was a grain of truth in her words. Switching from the ZAKU Phantom back to his trusty GAT-X102 Duel had been a veritably liberating experience for the silver-haired pilot; the ZAKU line were decent machines, but they didn't even come close to matching the nuclear-powered prowess of the surviving G-weapons.

As he powered up his faithful old machine, part of Yzak's mind reflected on the changes Duel had gone through since its construction, three years before. Originally the most basic of the six Heliopolis-built mobile suits, it had quickly been upgraded with an assault shroud, giving it much-needed additional armor, space mobility, and weaponry, in the form of a railgun and missile pod. Then, after he joined True ZAFT, Morgenroete had added a nuclear reactor and folding wings, granting Duel unlimited range and atmospheric flight capability.

Now, having been hastily refitted in preparation for this very battle, Duel boasted current-generation beam sabers, rifle, and shield, while its shoulder-mounted railgun had been replaced with a Balaena plasma cannon, and a pair of machine cannon turrets had been added to the wings.

_Still,_ Yzak groused to himself, _I wish Dearka hadn't gone on leave _now_ of all times…_

Shaking his head, he finished his preflight, and brought his intercom connection with the bridge alive. "This is Yzak Joule," he reported, "X102 Duel, launching!"

* * *

_Ophanim,_ Bridge

* * *

"They're taking the bait so far, Sir," Andre Lewis said quietly, watching the ZAFT ships emerge from various docks and small space stations, with mobile suits already deploying from their hangars. "Classic ZAFT defensive pattern; no sign they've detected Fourth Fleet yet." 

"Yes," Admiral Kimmer grunted, not yet reassured. "We'd better hope it stays that way; I'd rather we not have to rebuild Fourth Fleet from scratch… again."

Lewis winced at the rancor in his admiral's voice, but he didn't dispute the sentiment; he, too, recalled the horrible losses taken by the Earth Alliance in the previous war. Fourth Fleet had been the most egregious loss, with virtually every ship wiped in a single moment by GENESIS, but it had hardly been the only one. The main reason the Earth Alliance had signed the Junius Treaty in the first place, Lewis knew, was because the many battles in orbit had left them with exactly one surviving fleet. While a fair number of individual ships had survived Second Jachin, only Sixth Fleet had remained as a cohesive unit, leaving the Earth Alliance rebuilding its fleets for most of the two and a half year interval.

_But now,_ Lewis thought, _we_ are_ ready again… and if I can't help wondering at least a little if Admiral Kimmer is right, I still _believe_ that we can win this battle, if we play our cards right…_

"First ZAFT ships entering effective range of First Fleet, Captain," _Ophanim_'s detection officer, Lieutenant Michael Garibaldi, reported. "Numerous ZAKUs incoming at high speed."

"Understood," Lewis responded calmly. "Keep me apprised." _Ophanim_'s orders, straight from Admiral Sykes, were clear: the ship was to avoid action until the battle was fully joined, in order to maximize the ship's element of surprise. "Lieutenant Ogden, what's _Kyriotite_'s status?"

"Holding position with Fourth Fleet, Sir," Ogden replied. "They report no sign of being detected, and are ready to deploy Sigma and Nova at any time."

The captain nodded. "Excellent. Lieutenant O'Malley," he said, turning to _Ophanim_'s fire-control officer, "begin charging positron banks, and prepare to fire on my-"

He never finished the command, as Garibaldi suddenly broke into his order. "Status change!" he barked, evident surprise warring with professional calm. "Heat signature relay from _Eisenhower_ shows nuclear reactor signature launching from a _Nazca_-class!"

Lewis' head snapped around, his eyes wide, but Kimmer beat him to the punch. "Nuclear reactor?" he snapped, turning in his own chair. "Can you identify the reading?"

"Checking against known heat signatures now, Admiral," Garibaldi replied, typing at his console with furious haste. "Confirmed! Reactor heat signature is a match with the profile of post-refit GAT-X102 Duel!"

"Joule," Lewis said grimly, swearing under his breath. "Admiral, that's-"

"I know," Kimmer cut him off. "Duel was piloted by Yzak Joule, one of True ZAFT's survivors who returned to ZAFT. We should've anticipated that they'd bring Duel back as soon as the Junius Treaty became a moot point." He drew a deep breath. "All right, then. We'll keep Nova in reserve until Fourth Fleet is ready to strike –I don't trust Goldberg not to get trigger-happy- but instruct _Kyriotite_ to launch Pike immediately."

"Understood, Sir," Ogden acknowledged, and began speaking rapidly into his headset.

"Well," Lewis murmured to his admiral, "it looks like you were right to be suspicious, Admiral. Think they have anything else up their sleeves?"

"At this point, Andre," Kimmer admitted, "I wouldn't be at all surprised."

* * *

Lagrange Point 5, Near PLANTs

* * *

It was, perhaps, fitting that the first battle of the Second Bloody Valentine War should be fought near the drifting fragments of the asteroid fortress Jachin Due. The final battle of the last War had been fought there, and so it was fitting that the Second Battle of Jachin Due would be followed by the Third. 

Unlike the Second, however, Third Jachin began not with nuclear missiles flying everywhere, but with a conventional slugging match. ZAFT _Nazcas_ and _Laurasias_ plowed straight toward Earth Alliance _Agamemnons, Nelsons,_ and _Drakes,_ while GuAIZ Rs and ZAKUs clashed head-on with the many and varied Dagger variants favored by Earth.

To an untrained observer, the battle would've seemed total chaos. As the two sides finally entered range of each other, a _Nazca_ was almost instantly blown apart as it met an _Agamemnon;_ the latter's powerful high-energy beam cannons smashed emerald lances deep into the ZAFT ship's hull, shattering armor as they went. A dozen crewmen were vaporized by the energy bolts themselves, while thirty more were shredded by two-meter-long metal splinters formed of shattered bulkheads… and then the destructive light reached the engine room.

The _Nazca_'s pulsed-fusion reactor chamber was breached, and raw plasma turned the entire ship into an incandescent blob of free-floating hydrogen.

The _Agamemnon_ didn't enjoy her victory for long. A pair of _Laurasia_-class frigates swiftly turned their own full armament on the Earth Alliance ship, and the severe pounding soon tore her to shreds and molten armor.

Elsewhere, groups of mobile suits crashed into each other like Medieval armies on an ancient battlefield. Battling like giant, mechanical knights, these modern-day jousters fought with weapons of coherent light and hypervelocity projectiles, tearing into each other with a destructive intensity unknown before the advent of directed energy weapons and magnetic-acceleration technology.

One outdated GuAIZ R, meeting with a pair of Dagger Ls, managed to ram its shield-mounted beam saber into one of them, the crimson energy blade melting straight through to the cockpit; the Earth Forces mobile suit drifted for a moment, falling away from the saber… and blew apart in a shower of flame and shrapnel.

The other Dagger pilot clenched his hands on his controls in anger. "Why, you-!" Spinning away from the GuAIZ R's attempt to pump railgun slugs into him, he snapped up his rifle, tightened his finger on the trigger-

A pair of emerald bolts slammed into him from his right, blasting off the Dagger's torso in a veritable eruption of molten metal.

The blue mobile suit that had rescued the endangered GuAIZ R saluted it with one of its beam cannons. "Nice thrust," Shiho Hahnenfuss, piloting ZAFT's only remaining CGUE DEEP Arms, complemented. "Just watch out for the wingmen next time, got it?"

"Will do, Ma'am," the rattled GuAIZ pilot promised, and boosted back toward his own team.

"Nice shot, Shiho," Yzak remarked, as she returned to her position at Duel's side. "I guess keeping your old machine wasn't such a bad idea after all." Pausing briefly, he snapped his plasma cannon into firing position, pulled the trigger, and sent a bolt scorching across space into an old-model Buster Dagger, melting a two-meter hole through its torso. It failed to explode, but it _was_ out of the fight, drifting away with no one at the controls.

Shiho smiled. "You doubted me, Commander? Just because it's old doesn't make it useless; you won't find me trading up until it falls apart around me."

Yzak snorted. "You mean like your old boss has happen a lot? Well, whatever." He spun Duel around, spread its wings, and charged off for the busiest battle area he could find.

Shiho shook her head, following in his wake. _Same old Yzak,_ she thought fondly. _Not as fiery, but definitely just as glad to find a good fight… Well, at least we won't be bored._

* * *

PLANTs, Junius Eight, Private Estate

* * *

Watching on a monitor in his home –accessing military data courtesy of the arrangements of one Kenneth DiFalco- a blonde-haired, mustachioed man in his late forties sighed deeply, observing the carnage going on outside the colony where he made his home. 

_So this is what it's come to,_ Rear Admiral (retired) Lewis C. Halberton thought sadly. _We drove them off two years ago, but now that they've rebuilt their strength, they've come back for another try… Is this cycle endless? Sparky and so many others sacrificed their lives to end it last time, only for the menace to come back again so soon…_

It was enough to make Eighth Fleet's former commanding officer feel every year of his age and then some. Still in the prime of his life, he felt weary, having seen so much death and destruction in the pursuit of one war's end, only to see the whole thing begin again less than three years after he retired.

Halberton had at one time thought his retirement would be peaceful. Having done his part, first for the Earth Alliance and then with True ZAFT, he'd left _Odin_ in Jason Chance's capable hands, and settled in the PLANTs to enjoy his post-military life in relative safety. The PLANTs had welcomed him, in light of his actions with _Odin_ –ZAFT's point of contention being over Ken DiFalco personally, not his organization- and so he'd been content for a time.

Now, the wily former admiral was not so sure he could remain where he was. _If nothing else,_ he thought to himself, _it appears that the PLANTs are no longer quite so safe; if Fourth Fleet isn't hiding out there somewhere, I'll be much surprised… and even without that, I'm sure this won't be the end of it. As long as hostilities continue, the Alliance will try again, and again, to destroy the PLANTs entirely. And with Orb in the shape it's in, only ZAFT and Section Nine block their path; compared to the Earth Alliance's numbers, even ZAFT's quality advantage will only get them so far…_

Halberton winced then, watching as Sledgehammer missiles from a _Nelson_-class battered a _Nazca_ into scrap metal. ZAFT was giving as good as it got, especially in the mobile suit conflicts, but if this kept up, even a victory would be merely Pyrrhic. It probably wasn't obvious even to the trained soldiers involved in the battle –too deep in the trees to see the forest, so to speak- but looking at it from the outside, Halberton saw the trends…

Before he could retreat even deeper into melancholy, however, something new, just appearing at the edge of the battle zone, caught his attention… and Lewis Halberton smiled.

* * *

Orb Union, DiFalco Residence, Roof

* * *

Night had fallen over Orb, leaving the starry sky plainly visible to anyone who cared to look… and on that night, Ken DiFalco and Murrue Ramius cared very much. Gazing up at the inky, star-studded blackness, they watched not the bright points from many light-years away, but rather much closer, brighter, short-lived flashes… and occasional blooms of fire. 

The pair used binoculars to view the lightshow; while insufficiently powerful for true detail at a distance of 384,403 kilometers, they were capable of far greater magnification than equivalent devices from times past… powerful enough for the two trained soldiers to recognize much of what was going on. They couldn't see more than a fraction of the battle area at any given time, but their roving gazes gave them a fair sense of the big picture. And a battle it most certainly was…

"So," Ken whispered, "it's begun… the world's new nightmare…"

"Yes," Murrue agreed softly. "So far, this rivals even the first assault in the last War. The last time I saw such a thing was Second Jachin. I guess they've rebuilt since then…" She paused then, seeing a brighter flash bloom, then fade. "What was…?"

"_Laurasia,"_ Ken replied tautly. "Something got her reactor; that was a fusion bottle failing." He sighed. "Nobody got off her alive, I can tell you that…"

They fell into silence for several minutes, unconsciously moving closer together, as the lights continued to streak across the night sky. The fiery plumes of fire that appeared every few moments made Ken increasingly tense, and the silence grew more uneasy as seconds ticked past.

"I should be up there," he whispered at length. "This battle… I should be part of it, defending the PLANTs with the others…"

Murrue sighed, slid her free arm around his back. "You have other responsibilities now, Ken," she reminded him quietly. "You made that choice two years ago, when Chairwoman Canaver asked you to lead Section Nine. The defense of the PLANTs… is up to others now."

He sighed. "Yeah, you're right…" His voice trailed off, as something else caught his attention. "Wait. That's…"

* * *

Lagrange Point 5, Near PLANTs

* * *

"Bastards!" Yzak growled, watching a ZAKU vanish in a puff of vaporized armor, struck dead on by an _Agamemnon_'s main guns. "There's no end to these slimy-!" 

"Look at it this way, Commander," Shiho advised, smiling tightly. "They just brought one of their fleet flagships into range. That wasn't very bright of them… but then I suppose they still haven't realized quite what they're dealing with."

After pausing to slice an errant Dagger L in half, Yzak turned back to his acting XO, and smiled slowly himself. "Think you can take her down, Shiho?"

"Well," she replied, watching as her CGUE DEEP Arms' cannons' charge went up toward full power, "Victor used one to take out the _Montgomery,_ three years ago; she was a _Nelson_-class, so I figure I've got a good chance of frying an _Agamemnon,_ if I play my cards right…"

They both knew it would be a very good thing if she succeeded. The Earth Alliance had begun the battle with the initiative on their side, and ZAFT had been unable to gain the momentum themselves; they fought valiantly, but while the majority of their mobile suits far outmatched the Alliance's, the fact was that they were on the defensive, and the Earth Forces' survivors of Second Jachin had passed on lessons to new recruits on how to survive engagements with ZAFT.

Yzak, dropping instinctively into a guard position for his wingman, glanced tensely around, searching for threats that could stop Shiho from unleashing the full power of her primary weapons. Spotting a quartet of Dagger Ls coming too close, he bared his teeth in a snarl, and opened up with his beam rifle, grenade launcher, plasma cannon, and missile pod.

The barrage of fire was far more devastating than the Earth Forces pilots had counted on. They knew Duel was there, but they also knew it dated back to the Heliopolis-based G-weapon project, from three years before; the idea of such an antiquated machine being a genuine threat didn't even enter their heads.

Unfortunately for them, they reckoned without Yzak Joule's total familiarity with his beloved machine.

The first Dagger suffered the lightest damage, as an emerald dart smashed in through the cockpit hatch and out through the verniers, leaving shrapnel and molten metal in its wake, along with bloody mist that had once been a pilot; while it drifted lifelessly away, the second was struck by the grenade. The explosive lodged in the Dagger's pelvis, and before the horrified pilot could do anything about it, it detonated, blasting off all four of the Dagger's limbs and reducing the torso to free-floating hydrogen and high-velocity debris.

The third barely had time to cry out before the plasma bolt took his machine in the face, converting its head and upper body into molten metal mist. The cockpit was untouched by the actual blast… but the raw thermal bloom superheated the air inside, touching off a firestorm that lasted just long enough to reduce the pilot to cinders… just as the missiles smashed headlong into his partner, lighting off a momentary volcano of barely-recognizable parts, flames, and semi-molten shrapnel.

That threat thoroughly demolished, Yzak smirked, spun Duel around in search of more targets… and nearly exploded himself, as a powerful red-orange blast nearly smote him from the skies.

He and Shiho both whirled, just in time to catch sight of a new machine bearing down on them. Overall black with white trim, a trio of radiator fins protruding from each shoulder, and a pair of rifles in its hands, with cables connecting them to its back, something about it seemed to veritably ooze threat and menace.

"Shiho, get back!" Yzak snapped, raising his own rifle. "I don't know what that is, but I don't think a DEEP Arms should be anywhere near it!"

"Roger that," Shiho agreed unwillingly. She knew he was right –her machine had never been intended to face off against even older "G-type" mobile suits, let alone a new model- but she hated having to leave the battle to others, for any reason. "I'll head off and help the Compton team."

"Good idea." The silver-haired pilot's gaze was fixed on the new Earth Alliance model, even as he added, "And good luck."

"I think _you're_ the one who's going to be needing the luck," she retorted, and kicked in her verniers. Spinning the DEEP Arms around, she departed the area at high speed.

"Smart," the new pilot observed, watching Shiho go. "Ineffective, of course, were I to choose to engage her… but I think I've got a more important target right here in front of me. Your machine violates the Junius Treaty, after all."

"And yours doesn't?" Yzak retorted. "Don't try to tell me that rifle of yours doesn't have nuclear power behind it; any battery would run out after only a few shots from that."

"Hm… good point." Inside the machine's cockpit, the pilot shrugged. "In any case, the Treaty is moot now, isn't it? The decision has been made to finally wipe out the PLANTs, so there's no point in having diplomatic relations with them. Kind of hard to have diplomacy with scattered wreckage."

"You and what army?" Duel's pilot snarled, and opened fire.

"You really have no idea, do you?" the enemy mused, boosting left faster than Yzak expected. "My name is Jonas Pike, my machine is GAT-X506 Sigma… and your antiquated G-weapon is no match for the latest product of Preybird-based technologies."

_Preybird-based?_ Yzak thought, suddenly even more tense. _Just like that Nightwing thing from Break The World… That's not good!_

With a snarl, he threw Duel to one side as Sigma opened up with its rifles, allowing the high-energy bolts to scorch harmlessly past, then opened up with his own rifle and plasma cannon, firing off emerald and red-orange bolts as fast as his weapons could cycle.

To his surprise, Pike didn't bother to dodge this time. He instead let his left-hand rifle retract to its mounting… and snapped up the now-free arm, as a barrier of pure energy formed in front of it, expanding from a generator on the forearm.

Beam and plasma bolts that would've destroyed Sigma in a heartbeat simply spattered against the energy shield, and Pike laughed quietly. "Weren't expecting that, were you, Duel? Look, compadre, that outdated frame of yours simply isn't good enough anymore. Case in point…"

Even as Yzak altered his aim to compensate for the beam shield's presence, Sigma's right arm came up, and a narrow, tightly-focused bolt of fire leapt from the rifle directly into Duel's shield… which promptly blasted into a million pieces, instantly transforming from a solid –and modern- defensive device into anti-beam coated shrapnel.

Yzak stared in complete disbelief at the scattered fragments of his shield. "That's… impossible," he whispered. "He destroyed an anti-beam shield with one shot…?" Fists clenching on his controls, he snatched out his left-hand beam saber. "I don't know who you are, or how you can do that, but now you're going down, Pike!"

Duel's verniers went to full power, sending the machine into a high-speed charge at Sigma, and Pike sighed. "Not very bright, friend," he murmured, shaking his head. "You're just hastening your own death…" With another sigh, he sighted in his Variable Speed Beam Rifle again, squeezed the trigger…

And the _Agamemnon_ Shiho had been targeting earlier was struck amidships by twin columns of azure-edged orange fire, started to break apart along its spine, and blew apart in a titanic explosion of plasma and debris.

Pike spun around, Duel forgotten in an instant. "What the devil-?!"

"_Attention, all Earth Alliance forces,"_ a new voice blared over the radio. _"This is the Mobile Assault Ship _Asmodeus,_ Captain Ron Foreman speaking. It's my duty to inform you that ZAFT is currently supported by Section Nine, and that by order of the Major, I can and will destroy any Earth Alliance varmints that don't depart this area immediately."_

Even Yzak Joule, normally irritated by third party intervention, pumped a fist at the sight of the slate-gray _Archangel_-class ship that had just entered the fray. He knew that ship well, and though she wouldn't turn the tide of battle all by herself, she'd be a welcome addition to the defenders.

"Section Nine," Pike hissed angrily. "So, those interlopers _did_ turn up… Not for long!" Setting his VSBRs to their tightest focus, he took aim-

And received a kick to the back of the head, sending Sigma tumbling away. "Not happening, pal," the pilot of the newly-arrived 105 Dagger –equipped with Gunbarrel Striker- informed Pike. "And watch your back next time, if you don't want to get fried."

Sigma's verniers blasted violently, correcting the tumble with bone-bruising force. Inside its cockpit, Pike glared at the new arrival… but at the sight of the Gunbarrel pack, he checked his instinctive response. _It doesn't give him every advantage,_ he thought angrily, _but it gives him enough, especially with Joule almost certainly starting to adapt… Bastards. Time to retreat for now._

Sigma spun around again, and its main thrusters glowed brightly. "Don't think this is over," Pike snarled, kicking his machine away from the fight. "We'll meet again!"

"Bastard," Yzak muttered under his breath, then turned to the 105 Dagger. "So what took you so long, Morgan? He almost fried me!"

Morgan Chevalier chuckled. "And if he hadn't come that close, Yzak, you'd be telling me I shouldn't have come at all, right? Well, for your information, we were busy up till now; we ran into a batch of stragglers, and had quite a time getting rid of them before they could warn the rest of the Fleet about us."

"Hmph. Well," Yzak allowed, "I'll let it go this time… but don't let it happen again!" Then he frowned, looking at the Dagger in puzzlement. "But what are you doing flying that thing? I thought Section Nine contracted MMI to build a new mass-production model for you people."

"We did," Morgan acknowledged. "In fact, both X51A prototypes are in _Asmodeus'_ hangar as we speak; we picked them up before we entered the battle. Unfortunately, I've never even flown one in test flights, only simulations. I wasn't about to risk my tail in something I wasn't even sure would _work._ So, I'm afraid Fianna's combat debut won't be today."

Yzak grunted, but didn't dispute the point. He'd done quite well in Duel the first time he'd flown it, and as far as he knew _it_ had never been test-flown, either… but then Duel wasn't nearly as complex as the units Maius Military Industries was now constructing.

"Well," he said after a moment, "at least you're here, and that bastard Pike and his freakish machine are gone. Mind giving us a hand mopping up the rest of them?"

Morgan grinned, and deployed his gunbarrels in an outward spiral. "My pleasure, Commander Joule."

* * *

_Ophanim,_ Bridge

* * *

"The _Asmodeus,"_ Admiral Kimmer grated. "_And_ Morgan Chevalier; I recognize his 105 Dagger. It figures that Section Nine would stick their noses into this one…" 

"It looks like they've officially thrown in their lot with ZAFT," Lewis mused. "Not entirely unexpected… but not necessarily smart of them, either. They have to know what kind of a political mess they'll be in once Orb signs the treaty."

Kimmer took a deep, steadying breath. "They may not realize the full peril they're in," he said slowly. "By now, they may well know we have new _Archangel_-class ships, but I doubt they realize how far we've gone in planning for their removal." He shook his head. "In any case, as you said, Andre, this wasn't entirely unexpected, and Admiral Sykes' orders _did_ take this possibility into account."

Lewis nodded. "Then we begin Phase II?"

"Precisely," the admiral confirmed. "At once."

"Understood." _Ophanim_'s CO looked over his shoulder. "Lieutenant Ogden, inform Fourth Fleet that they're to engage at once; and instruct _Kyriotite _to launch Nova as soon as they're in engagement range of the targets."

"Aye aye, Sir," Ogden acknowledged, and began passing the orders through his headset. "_Ophanim_ to _Kyriotite:_ new fleet orders. Disengage Dead Zone and begin Fourth Fleet attack run. Prepare Nova for launch as soon as engagement range is reached."

"_Captain Stiles here. _Kyriotite_ acknowledges, _Ophanim._ Estimated engagement range in five minutes."_

Within thirty seconds, the heretofore concealed Fourth Fleet deactivated the Dead Zone jamming system –once used to ambush True ZAFT, and also to confuse matters at Second Jachin, both times quite effectively- brought their engines fully online, and set course directly for the PLANTs… along with their deadly cargo.

Another thirty seconds after that, the first of Fourth Fleet's mobile suits began to launch: GAT-04 Windams, many equipped with heavy missile launchers. They would serve as the first strike, protected by other Windams, while the _Nelson_ and _Drake_-class ships made their way into range.

As they began to advance, Kimmer watched the countdown to engagement range, and finally nodded to himself. "Captain Lewis," he said formally, "I believe it is time to pull _Ophanim_ back. Signal BatRon 3 to follow us; we leave the rest to the forward elements, and to Fourth Fleet."

"Right away, Sir," Lewis acknowledged. "Lieutenant Ogden, pass the word, please."

"Roger that, Captain."

With Fourth Fleet underway, the battle would soon be entering the final phase.

* * *

PLANTs, Aprilius One, Supreme Council Chairman's Office

* * *

When Peter Williams came back into his office at a brisk walk, Durandal knew the battle was coming to a head. He'd been expecting it since _Asmodeus_ made its appearance; the only curiosity was how long it had taken for things to get moving. 

"A new development, Peter?" he said without preamble.

"Yes, Your Excellency," Williams confirmed tautly. "It seems the Fourth Fleet is indeed here; they were using the full Dead Zone jamming effect to conceal their presence until now. A few minutes ago, they deactivated their jamming, and are now on course for the PLANTs themselves. So far, they've already deployed two dozen mobile suits, of the type Bogey One was observed to launch a prototype of in the wake of the Armory One incident; approximately half are armed with nuclear weapons, and we believe their ships are also carrying nuclear missiles."

Durandal nodded gravely. "A full nuclear attack force, as we anticipated… Anything unexpected in their loadout?"

"Yes, Your Excellency, I'm afraid so. We had observed what appeared to be an _Archangel_-class mobile assault ship directing First Fleet's actions from the rear of their formation; that appears to be pulling back now… but we've _confirmed_ an _Archangel_-class leading Fourth Fleet."

The Chairman nodded once more, thinking deeply. _So… now we have three confirmed _Archangel_-class ships in their rebuilt fleet; two here, and one holding position at L1… They have indeed been planning this for some time, then. Still, I perceive that the PLANTs are not their only objective. If we were, they would've deployed _all_ their forces against us. Which means… I'm not the only one actively planning for Section Nine's eventual removal._ He hid a smile, knowing that Williams would not have understood his amusement. _Major DiFalco certainly has made a lot of enemies, hasn't he? I have to wonder if he'll even survive long enough for Millenia Crescent's role to come into play…_

"All right, then," Durandal said quietly; only seconds had passed since Williams' last statement. "Instruct _Marie Curie_ to active the Neutron Stampeder as soon as the entirety of Fourth Fleet is in range of the effect."

"That runs the risk of some missiles being launched from the forward elements, Your Excellency," Williams warned. "If they get too close…"

"It's a risk we have to take," the Chairman said regretfully. "We can let First Fleet go, but Fourth _must_ be crushed decisively. There's simply no other option, so long as they remain the Alliance's primary nuclear strike force. However…" He paused. "We can, perhaps, minimize the risk. Contact _Asmodeus,_ and request they act as point defense for the PLANTs."

Williams pursed his lips in thought, then nodded sharply. "Good idea, Sir. I'll get right on it. And while I'm at it, I'll instruct the Joule team to aid them; Commander Joule is currently cooperating quite effectively with the Section Nine 105 Dagger."

"Then get to it, Peter," Durandal ordered. "There's no time to waste."

"At once, Your Excellency!"

* * *

Lagrange Point 5, Near PLANTs

* * *

"…Roger that," Yzak acknowledged. "I'll be there." Switching from his link to _Voltaire_ –over which he'd just received his new orders- to his link with Morgan, he began, "I just received priority orders, Morgan: until _Marie Curie_ is ready to fire, the Joule team will be defending the PLANTs from incoming nuclear missiles. Chairman Durandal requests that you and _Asmodeus_ lend support, as well." 

Morgan didn't hesitate, despite having no idea what the _Marie Curie_ was. "You've got my support. Captain Foreman?"

"_Standing orders for this battle are to cooperate with ZAFT's requests for assistance,"_ Foreman said simply. _"We're on it."_

As the two pilots watched, the _Asmodeus _moved into position between the PLANTs and Fourth Fleet, all weapons deployed. Her last battle had been Second Jachin, facing off against a nuclear-armed opponent; it seemed only fitting that her new battle be _Third_ Jachin, facing the same weapons, from the same fleet.

It wasn't long before _Asmodeus'_ guns started firing, targeting any ship unwary enough to enter her reach, and Duel accompanied Morgan's 105 Dagger in a looping course to intercept the mobile suits.

"So what _are_ those things, anyway?" Morgan wondered aloud, as they neared the first batch of Windams. "The Major mentioned running into one of them, but I've never seen them before myself. Something new the Alliance whipped up?"

"Seems to be," Yzak confirmed. "Jim Hamilton's son was flying a prototype of them four months ago; it looks like they've used the time since then to build a lot more." He scowled. "What makes things even worse is that it looks suspiciously like a _ZAFT_ unit from the War, ZGMF-X12A Testament. According to records recovered after the War –Zala's old records- it was being constructed at the GENESIS Alpha facility, so it should've been destroyed when Dearka and I blew the place…"

"And if it wasn't, then it's something _we_ need to look into," Morgan mused. "Well, for now, how about we just blow them up?"

"Good idea," Duel's pilot concurred, and opened fire.

* * *

_Ophanim,_ Bridge

* * *

"Well," Lewis mused, "this is new. Don't people normally e_ngage_ hostile nuclear forces? I mean, at Jachin they came straight for us; they didn't turn tail and run." 

"It _is_ peculiar," Kimmer agreed. "Perhaps they think they have something up their sleeves… but what? It's not like Section Nine is going to suddenly come out of the woodwork and attack us; if they had numbers like that, we'd have seen them long since." He shook his head. "Something doesn't add up, Andre."

_Ophanim_'s captain certainly concurred in that. The only nuclear attack either of them had ever participated in was Second Jachin, but it was enough for them to have a fairly good idea of what a defending force normally did when faced with nuclear weapons. Back then, ZAFT, aided by True ZAFT's METEOR-equipped mobile suits, had immediately gone to intercept the incoming missiles.

Today, however… today, they were still taking out missiles –already, the Joule team alone had destroyed over a dozen- but they were only engaging enemies which entered a certain range. _But… why would they be limiting themselves this way?_ Kimmer wondered. _The closer they get, the less time they have to intercept, and the greater the chance of missing one or more…_

Frowning deeply, he asked, "Has Nova gotten into the engagement zone yet?"

Garibaldi checked his instruments. "Barely, Admiral," he answered, bringing up the data for that region. "Is something wrong?"

"Possibly…" Kimmer thought for several more moments, then nodded sharply. "Lieutenant Ogden, instruct Goldberg to return to _Kyriotite_ immediately. And have _Kyriotite_ herself pull back a few kilometers. Something isn't right here."

"Right away, Sir," Ogden replied, and bent to his task.

Lewis glanced back at his admiral. "Recalling Nova?" he said, frowning. "I thought orders were…"

Kimmer waved a hand. "I know about orders, Andre, and I'd like to see Nova in action myself. Nonetheless, as arrogant as Hamilton can be, he's right about one thing: Sigma and Nova are too important to risk in an engagement like this, especially when my gut tells me-"

"Status change!" Garibaldi interrupted. "Detecting unknown radiation signature from a _Nazca_-class at the edge of ZAFT's defensive perimeter. It's directed toward Fourth Fleet, Admiral!"

"_What?!"_ Lewis and Kimmer both faced forward… just in time to see space erupt.

* * *

Lagrange Point 5, Near PLANTs

* * *

"Urgh!" Yzak snarled, stabbing his beam saber into a Windam's cockpit. "There's no end to these things! Just how many nukes _are_ there out here?!" Ripping his blade free, his other hand snapped up, and an emerald dart spat toward another Windam. 

"Too many," Morgan grunted in reply, his gunbarrels spitting rapid-fire death at a third enemy. "I don't know how much longer we can keep this up," he added, as his target liquefied. "So far, we've kept them from launching missiles, but it's only a matter of time…"

They both wished they knew just what was supposed to happen now. Yzak had the impression that _Marie Curie_ employed some kind of new weapon, but he didn't know _what,_ and not knowing wasn't easing the load on his mind one bit. Even with the assistance of _Asmodeus_ and Morgan's 105 Dagger, there were simply more targets than there were defenders in the zone they'd been ordered to restrict themselves to.

"We _can't_ keep this up, Commander," Shiho said tautly, ripping her CGUE's laser blade diagonally through a Windam's torso. "Sooner or later, some of those missiles are _going_ to get through; there's just too many of them for us to stop!"

Targeting another Windam with his new machine cannons, Yzak ripped off a burst of high-velocity tungsten penetrators. "I know that," he grunted, as the barrage peppered the Windam with dozens of holes all across its torso. "But we've got to hold out until whatever the top brass is working on comes off. No matter what, we can't miss any of those nukes!" Punctuating his statement, his target blew apart in a cloud of shrapnel.

"Just like Second Jachin," Morgan remarked, driving a blade of frozen fire into a Windam's head with his left hand. "Except these guys are a lot more maneuverable than those pathetic Moebiuses from the Peacemaker Force." He cursed then, and brought his shield around just in time to spatter a double-burst of emerald fire from another Windam. His target, meanwhile, tore itself free from his saber, and reversed course before he could finish it off. His Windam now headless, the Earth Alliance pilot knew better than to stick around.

A moment later, Shiho recoiled from a burst of emerald darts, then cursed as they tracked across... and smashed into her left beam cannon. Never intended to stand up to anything heavier than light projectile fire, the cannon's barrel melted under the onslaught, then snapped off, leaving nothing but a useless stump.

The Windam responsible for the deed continuing swinging its fire toward her, intending to finish her off; it was disabused by the idea only when a massive projectile from _Asmodeus_' port Valiant linear cannon smashed its torso off, leaving only the stumps of its legs drifting in space.

"That's it, this is out of control!" Morgan barked. "We're getting swarmed out here! _Asmodeus-?"_

"_We're doing what we can, Morgan,"_ Foreman answered; his grim tone indicated his own ship wasn't doing too well, either. _"Maybe if the X51s were ready, it'd be different, but as it is-"_

Another voice cut across that of _Asmodeus_' captain, speaking rapidly and in no uncertain terms. _"All ZAFT and Section Nine units, clear area Charlie Omega immediately! Twenty seconds to _Marie Curie_ deployment!"_

"You heard the man," Yzak snapped, reversing thrust. "Let's get clear before whatever they're planning goes off!"

"No argument here, Commander," Shiho agreed sourly, glancing at the remains of her left beam cannon. "And remind me to requisition something with a shield when we get back, will you?"

He snorted. "Finally giving up the DEEP Arms?"

"If it's a choice between newfangled and dead, you bet," she said sardonically. "Maybe one of the 51s, after they get into production."

"Five seconds," Morgan interjected, using his gunbarrels' thrusters to accelerate his own retreat. "I'm beginning to think I know what's about to happen, so you should look away-"

Sheltered between two other _Nazcas_ and a screen of ZAKU Warriors, _Marie Curie_ finally triggered the massive, peculiar-looking device mounted on her hull... and space turned bright.

The Windams that Yzak, Shiho, and Morgan had been fighting moments earlier were the first casualties; those carrying nuclear missiles suddenly found themselves carrying nuclear _explosions,_ as the vastly accelerated fission reactions brought about premature super-critical detonations within the warheads. The unfortunate machines carrying the weapons instantly vanished into the fireballs, consumed before the pilots even realized anything was happening.

Those flying the escort Windams had slightly more warning: they had an instant to recognize the eye-searing flashes, before they too were consumed in nuclear fire.

The invisible radiation, harmless to living creatures, spread rapidly through space, quickly reaching Fourth Fleet's warships. If anything, their deaths were even more spectacular than the mobile suits; in addition to carrying more nuclear warheads, they were powered by pulsed-fusion reactors, adding the brilliant flares of failing fusion bottles to the lightshow.

Two _Drakes_ blew up in an instant; their deaths set off a _Nelson_ directly astern of them before the Neutron Stampeder's effect even reached them, turning the ship into a blob of hydrogen.

Everywhere the effect reached nuclear weapons, the blooms of fire were repeated, and even Yzak was awed by the spectacular thermal blooms. "That's... that's..." Words failed him, English being inadequate to describe the carnage.

"And I thought Second Jachin was explosive," Morgan whispered. "But this... Yzak, Shiho, did either of you have any idea something like this existed?"

Shiho slowly shook her head. "No idea at all, Morgan," she replied distractedly, watching as ships continued to explode, reducing the Fourth Fleet ever more. "Top secret program, I guess; and after seeing _this,_ I can understand why they didn't tell anybody about it."

The three pilots subsided into silence after that. A losing battle had, with the use of one ship, turned into a crushing victory, in which the Earth Alliance's greatest weapon had turned into its greatest liability. In the space of ten seconds, ZAFT ensured that the Third Battle of Jachin Due would go down in history as the most disastrous use of nuclear weapons in over two centuries of nuclear warfare.

* * *

_Ophanim,_ Bridge

* * *

Watching Fourth Fleet's ships blow themselves apart one after another, Vice Admiral Cyril Kimmer gripped the armrests of his chair so tightly his knuckles turned white. _Those ZAFT bastards,_ he thought, almost detached. _No wonder they were pulling back... I knew _something_ wasn't right, but I never expected them to be able to destroy an entire fleet with something as small as a _Nazca_-class destroyer..._

"Sir..." Garibaldi said hesitantly. "I've... got complete numbers on Fourth Fleet's survivors."

Lewis waited for the admiral to respond; when Kimmer remained silent, simply staring at the main display, he quietly cleared his throat. "What've you got, Lieutenant?"

Garibaldi winced. "...One survivor, Sir. Just _Kyriotite."_

Dead silence filled the bridge, as the news sank in. Unsurprising, perhaps -the raw destruction clearly seen on the displays made the conclusion inevitable- but it was one thing to see it, and quite another to _feel_ it.

At length, Lewis looked back at his admiral. "Well," he said quietly, "I guess you were right to order Nova back, Sir. If it had been anywhere near that effect..."

"Agreed," Kimmer said quietly, speaking again at last. "It would've been destroyed as well, before it could be deployed where it's most needed." He shook his head. "It was pointless to assign it to this operation in the first place. One more nuclear-armed machine would have been meaningless here, while its unexpected nuclear capability could come in handy in our next operation... as would the simple fact that it incorporates Preybird technology..."

"It'll at least please Lord Djibril," Lewis mused. "Fourth Fleet is virtually gone, but your judgment call saved two of our most important assets... What now, though, Sir? We... seem to have been routed, Admiral."

Kimmer sighed, now more drained than anything else. "Yes, Andre, I believe you're correct. Lieutenant Simpson, bring us around, and set course for Arzachel at once. Lieutenant Ogden, pass the word for _Kyriotite_ and the rest of First Fleet to follow suit."

The two officers acknowledged, and the pitiful remnants of the largest concentration of Earth Alliance ships since Second Jachin came around in space, beginning their long trip toward Arzachel Base... and the undoubtedly unpleasant reactions of Kimmer's shadow superiors in Logos.

* * *

Orb Union, DiFalco Residence

* * *

At the last, Ken and Murrue both had to look away; even from nearly four hundred thousand kilometers away, the light of so many nuclear explosions was blinding. 

More than that, though, it signaled to them that the battlefield had changed once again. From now on, nuclear attacks against the PLANTs themselves would be an act of insanity; due to the risk of other, similarly-armed ships being stationed elsewhere, the Earth Alliance's nuclear arsenal would be used very sparingly indeed.

That might've brought Ken DiFalco, once fanatical defender of the PLANTs, some comfort... had he not come face to face with a copy of Preybird only months earlier. That encounter had brought him to the realization that the Earth Forces had learned for more than he'd expected, in the interval between wars; they could no longer use nuclear weapons as effectively, but they would doubtless find a conventional alternative eventually.

Add to that the Seirans' efforts to bring Orb into the Earth Alliance...

"So," Murrue murmured, nearly ten minutes after the last explosions faded, "it's really begun again, hasn't it?"

"Yes," Ken agreed sadly. "The Earth Alliance has been stopped for now... but we both know it won't take them long to start a new offensive somewhere else. When that happens, it'll be the Bloody Valentine War all over again... except worse. Both sides have learned much from their last clash; the Earth Alliance understands the effectiveness of mobile suits, while ZAFT has finally countered the nuclear threat."

"A new arms race, in the middle of a new war..." She shook her head. "This is going to be ugly, Ken. And where do _you_ fit into this?"

To her surprise, he actually smiled faintly. "That, Murrue, may be the only bright spot in this whole mess. Section Nine is a third-party group, with enough combat power to make it a real problem for either side to engage. The Earth Forces won't dare engage us if they can avoid it; it would require too great a distraction from the campaign against the PLANTs." Then his smile faded. "But conversely, we can do little to affect the big picture, for now..."

Silence reigned after that, as the pair returned their attention to the skies... and wondered where the new war would take them.

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

After two years of uneasy peace, war has finally returned, as the Earth Alliance mounts a massive attack on the PLANTs... only to be thwarted by the clever redirection of their own nuclear weapons. With new innovations on both sides, the new conflict's flames will be even harder to extinguish than those of the old... 

Well, this chapter may be a touch late, but I hope the length somewhat makes up for it, as well as the battle; and yes, I know neither Sigma nor Nova got much screen time here. Kind of unavoidable, as I needed them both to survive -which would've been particularly difficult for Nova, considering its nuclear bazooka- and getting caught in the Neutron Stampeder's effect would've made that... difficult, to say the least. However, I assure you that they'll get their time in the sun very soon now...

Also, I realize I skipped over some important things with Dearka and Mir, most notably their encounter with Rau; fear not, it will be in the next chapter, as a flashback. It didn't really fit into the sequence of events here, so I'm going the flashback route out of necessity.

Well, I guess that's about it for this one; after this, it'll be time for another chapter of A Call to Arms. Until then, let me know how this one was. -Solid Shark


	11. Chapter 11: Scrapped Princess

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

Also, all references to characters and events from the Equatorial Union Civil War are property of Ominae; for further information, see his story "Rebellion"

* * *

Section Nine Local Headquarters, Orb Union, Situation Room, February 10, C.E. 74

* * *

"Well," Ken DiFalco murmured to himself, "it's going to be interesting, trying to explain _this_ one to Unato and Yuna."

As usual, he wore his typical gray trench coat, Griever tied to his belt, and his eyepatch covering his sensitive left eye. In this place, they were mostly affectations… but affectations that were comfortingly familiar, in the face of the previous day's events.

Section Nine's "Major" was mostly ignored by the others in the room; his analysts were far too busy examining the available data to pay any attention to their boss, particularly when it was clear he preferred them doing their jobs to them being obsequious.

"Quite the show last night, Major," Rick Chung remarked softly, standing at his CO's side. "The nuclear attack didn't come as a surprise, but the weapon Captain Foreman and Lieutenant Commander Chevalier described ZAFT countering with…"

Ken nodded. "Indeed. A Neutron Stampeder… I, for one, never even realized such a thing was possible. I did a lot of research into nuclear weapons following the Bloody Valentine, but even then I proceeded under the assumption that no nuclear weapon could be detonated without the fissionable material first reaching critical mass; the idea of a device that could prematurely detonate them without that…" He shook his head. "It changes the entire paradigm, Rick. Nuclear weapons have long been a mainstay of the Earth Alliance; they used them at the Bloody Valentine, Orb, the diversion before Victoria, and Operation Elvis, each time to devastating effect. With them out of the equation…"

"Yeah." Rick half-smiled. "Looks like we're in for a slugging match, Major; who knows what the Earth Forces will try next." He frowned then. "But… it occurs to me, Sir, that there's another consideration here: _we're_ potential enemies of ZAFT, as well."

He didn't need to elaborate on his point. It was a matter of public record that Section Nine, in its capacity as a third-party anti-terrorist organization, carried nuclear weapons aboard its ships as a matter of course; depending on the mission, they would sometimes leave the nukes at their base, but they usually had at least a few aboard, in case of a truly serious breach of the Junius Treaty.

When that knowledge was put together with the fact that Gilbert Durandal had to be as aware as Section Nine themselves of the possibility of the two groups coming into direct conflict, it didn't take one of Ken's highly-paid analysts to realize there a great potential for a serious problem on their hands.

"We'll have to offload _Odin_ and _Asmodeus_' nukes," Ken said at last. "I never liked the kind of overkill those cause anyway, and as of now we can no longer take the risk. If our resident Durandal expert is correct, eventual hostilities between ourselves and ZAFT are not only possible, but probable; under such circumstances, we would almost certainly be targets for the Neutron Stampeder."

Rick nodded. "Got it, Major. I'll relay the orders tonight."

"That's not our only problem, Boss," another voice announced, as the Situation Room's door slid quietly open and shut. "In fact," Tom Delaney went on, an unusually grave expression on his face, "we may have an even worse one."

Ken looked at him sharply. "What do you mean, Tom?" _Worse than the possibility of our ships ripping themselves apart with their own ordnance? I'm not even sure I want to hear this…_

"Reactors, Boss," Tom said simply. "Almost everything we have, be it ship or mobile suit, is powered by a nuclear reactor." His next words came unwillingly, due to the still thinly-healed wound they touched, but he said them anyway. "Remember how Sparky died, Boss."

The Major's eye widened, and Rick whistled in sudden understanding. "Good point, Tom," the former EURM soldier said, as Ken took in the caution. "Nuclear meltdown… Yeah, I guess a Neutron Stampeder could induce that, too…"

"Exactly," the ex-Gray Demon confirmed flatly. "Even if we toss all our nukes out an airlock, they could still irradiate us by sending our nuclear reactors out of control." He looked back at Ken. "Boss? Any idea how we might counter _that?"_

"…Not yet," Ken admitted, thinking furiously. Originally an engineer himself, by training, he'd worked with nuclear technology as early as fourteen, when he designed the original GENESIS. "Some kind of shielding… but I don't know what. Not yet." He turned his head toward Rick. "Rick, include Tom's warning in your dispatch to HQ tonight. I want our people working on a countermeasure, top priority."

Rick nodded (though mildly disturbed even yet by his boss's occasional birdlike movements, he was getting accustomed to them). "Roger that, Major." He tilted his head. "By the way, what's _your_ schedule for tomorrow, Sir?"

The Major grimaced. "What else? I've got to make yet another report to Unato -and probably get chewed out for helping out ZAFT- and then I've got a meeting with Cagalli; with the WSTO treaty gaining popularity in the public opinion polls, we're starting to have some real worry about it. If we don't find a way to turn public opinion _against_ the treaty…"

It was the Equatorial Union native's turn to grimace. "Like what happened to us, except with the approval of the people, as well as corrupt government officials… Ouch. Even the Chief Representative can't do much against that, can she?"

"Not without losing her job," Ken confirmed. "In Orb's history, no Chief Representative has ever been impeached, but it's theoretically possible, should the rest of the government feel strongly enough about it… and I remind you that Uzumi Nara Athha ended up resigning over the Heliopolis affair."

Rick sighed. "We never get a break, do we? You had the Bloody Valentine War, we both had the Equatorial Union Civil War, and now, just when we thought we'd be able to count on official government backing for a change…"

"It may not come to that, but I concur with the Major: it's a possibility you all -_we_ all- must consider."

All three senior Section Nine operatives turned, hearing the deep voice -which had originated far from Orb- at the door Tom had entered not long before. The new arrival who stood there was a large man, close in size to Ken's late, lamented executive officer… but where Lance "Sparky" Cooper had been of Caucasian stock -albeit writ _very_ large- this man was North African through and through, from his voice to his dark skin and large build.

He also, unlike anyone else in the building, wore the white uniform of an Orb Army officer.

"Colonel Kisaka," Ken greeted, with a nod of respect. "I didn't expect to see you here today. I thought you were busy preparing _Kusanagi_ for future operations, in the wake of recent incidents…?"

Colonel Ledonir Kisaka, formerly Cagalli Yula Athha's bodyguard, smiled wryly. "I was," the big man -originally from the village of Tassil, in the African Community- said quietly. "This morning, however, I was called in to meet privately with General Tomanaga."

Ken allowed himself no visible reaction, nor did Tom… but both of Rick's eyebrows went up. Technically, _Kusanagi_ should've been under the jurisdiction of the Navy's Space Division, but as the personal battleship of the Athha family, it instead fell within the Army's sphere of influence, as the Chief Representative's bodyguards were traditionally drawn from there.

And General Hideo Tomanaga was the current Army Chief of Staff… who would not normally be dealing directly with a mere colonel, however important said colonel's post.

_Something big must've happened,_ Rick judged. _Something big… and something we're probably not going to be happy to hear about._

"So," Ken said at length, "just what did General Tomanaga have to say, Colonel? Have they abandoned plans to launch _Kusanagi,_ or…?"

For just a moment, Kisaka's mask slipped, showing a trace of disgust, before returning to quiet affability once more. "No," he said quietly, "the launch preparations haven't been canceled… although that might actually have been better." He shrugged. "Instead… I've been reassigned, to the Fourth Mobile Battalion."

Even Ken was nonplussed at that, while both his subordinates whistled. "They're putting you in command of an entire battalion?" the Major repeated, mild disbelief coloring his tone. "A _mobile suit_ battalion?" He frowned then, thinking back on the various briefings he'd sat in on since becoming a de facto military advisor for Cagalli.

_Four Mobile Battalion… That's, what, one company of Murasames, another of linear tanks, and the third standard infantry…_ _Yeah, that's right, Fourth Battalion is the last one still using tanks, as I recall. But…_

Ken glanced up. "That's not a colonel's billet," he said flatly. "That's a brigadier general's job."

Kisaka nodded, his small smile partly genuine this time. "True," he agreed. "But General Tomanaga has informed me that I'm getting the promotion to match. 'In recognition of my contributions to the Bloody Valentine War and to the defense of the Athha family', he said."

Rick snorted. "Yeah, sure; that's why they gave that aging coastal defense unit, with only one company worth beans in a real engagement. Yeah, that's great recognition for the captain of one of the ships that saved the entire world two years ago."

"Wait," Tom said abruptly, a new thought coming to mind in the wake of Rick's sarcasm. "Colonel -Brigadier- if you're being moved to Fourth Battalion… who's the new skipper of _Kusanagi?"_

The newly-minted general grimaced, dropping the pretense. "Captain Lyle Steig," he said simply, letting the name say it all.

Ken swore under his breath; Rick didn't even bother to keep his obscenity quiet. "One of the Seirans' toadies?" he said derisively. "That idiot couldn't win a water fight, let alone a space battle; not without help, anyway."

"He'll have it," the Major said slowly, considering the new data. "Yuna is, in my considered opinion, slightly less bright than your average rock, but Unato's no fool. Since he'll have to transfer a few others out of _Kusanagi_'s company anyway, in case of hardcore Athha loyalists, he'll undoubtedly put one of his more competent lackeys aboard, as well. Steig will be a nice, dumb figurehead, while somebody smart -and without the rank to be a danger- does all the thinking…"

Kisaka simply nodded thoughtfully. It didn't take a former second-in-command of ZAFT to understand what was going on now… and as someone once high in the councils of Uzumi Nara Athha himself, Kisaka was fully as informed about the Orb power struggles as Ken. Somewhat more informed, in fact, since the Major was a relative newcomer to the realm of Orb politics; smart though he was, he lacked the intimate experience with the various factions Orb natives took for granted.

Therefore, Kisaka understood quite well the truth: the Seirans were clearly moving to cement their own hold on power, putting as many of their loyalists into important positions as they possibly could… and that fact struck him as ominous indeed.

"The Seirans are beginning to make their move," he said slowly. "Certainly Cagalli remains a factor in their planning, but they're already working -with some success- to minimize her power to interfere…" He gazed at Ken through narrowed eyes. "That move to take power inevitably leads directly through this building, doesn't it, Major."

"It does," Ken confirmed evenly. "Technically, even with all the Treaty loopholes we take advantage of, there's not much Section Nine can do to affect internal affairs here in Orb… but practically speaking, we're a force that could -and, I assure you, _would_- defend the Athha family claim to power, if it came down to it. That would, of course, be neutralized if Cagalli were removed from power legally, but that would still leave us as a formidable force in world affairs, as we've proven on several occasions already. Unato will not willingly permit us to continue to obstruct the Earth Forces."

"Which means as soon as he removes Cagalli from power," Tom interjected, "however it is that he finally manages to achieve it, we can expect an eviction notice at the least… and maybe even an arrest warrant."

Kisaka nodded slowly. "I trust, Major, that you at least have contingency plans for that eventuality?"

"I will not permit myself to be taken into Orb custody," ken said flatly. "Not because I know too much -not like the War- but because I owe it to people like Cagalli and… and Sparky, to keep on fighting, no matter what."

Rick nodded. "If that happens, our contingent in the Equatorial Union detachment here in Orb will abandon their cover… and then we declare Case Zulu, and get out of here like bats out of hell."

* * *

Lagrange Point 1, _Dominion,_ Bridge, February 11th, C.E. 74

* * *

_If I have to spend another month in this place, I am going to lose it completely,_ Rear Admiral Sierra Novak thought sourly. _Been here since just after the Armory One raid, for pity's sake, all in expectation of a situation I'm not even sure I believe in anymore…_

Spending four months stuck in Earth orbit, hanging there at the Lagrange point, with nothing for company but her crew and the officers aboard the small station servicing _Dominion,_ had not improved Novak's disposition any. Originally delighted with her assignment to one of the new _Archangel_-class ships, delight had long since turned to total boredom, as she awaited instructions she was no longer at all certain would even come.

"Cheer up, Ma'am," Captain Alistair McKay advised with a small smile, glancing over from his place in the center seat. "At least we weren't part of that mess two days ago, right?"

Novak's lips quirked in a tiny, sour smile of her own. "True enough, Alistair, true enough; _that_ business was just about the most disastrous operation we've had since Second Jachin… unless you count Break The World."

"Bit of a difference between them, Admiral," he reminded her, suddenly serious. "The Junius operation we _deliberately_ lost… or sabotaged, I guess, since it was ZAFT doing the actual fighting. Operation Fatman…" He shook his head. "That _was_ a disaster… and if you ask me, Ma'am, an ill-conceived idea in the first place."

Such open criticism of official policy by a mere warship captain -even the flag captain of an admiral such as Novak- would've resulted in, at the least, a severe reprimand under some admirals… but Sierra Novak was one of a growing crop of flag officers who preferred that their senior subordinates speak their minds, with reason, if it meant a better working relationship… and more honest reports. In the wake of the severe losses the Earth Alliance's flag ranks had suffered toward the end of the First Bloody Valentine War, especially at Second Jachin, the direct influence of Blue Cosmos had waned, allowing more freedom of speech… and thought, at least within the confines of individual ships.

And in Novak's case, she'd learned the attitude directly from her own mentor, Admiral James Hamilton, the man whom she'd respected more than any other…

"For what it's worth," she said presently, standing up, "I happen to agree with you, Alistair." She stepped to her flag captain's side, and gripped the back of his chair of stability as she gazed out at the eternal night of space. "You're not the first person to voice it, either; Commander Hamilton did, among others." Her lips quirked in a genuine smile this time… though one tinged with irony. "That man is more abrasive than his father was, but he's got all of the Admiral's brains, and the reflexes to take his expertise into the cockpit… But yes, I think you're right, Alistair, and so do several others. Cyril Kimmer took First and Fourth Fleets in only under protest, and I believe Rick Taggart was also skeptical."

"Heads are gonna roll," McKay predicted. "I know Djibril and Sykes were the driving forces behind the attack itself, but whatever genius did the actual planning is going to find himself in very hot water indeed."

"True," Novak agreed. "Scuttlebutt says Admiral Desai was the one proposed the decoy tactic, the one that kept _Ophanim_ and _Kyriotite_ too far out to do any good. Now, that probably saved those two ships, but under the circumstances, I've got a feeling Marietta is going to be lucky if she keeps her head on her shoulders. At the least, I wouldn't be surprised if she's 'encouraged' to take early retirement; more likely, she'll be cashiered outright, just to make it clear who bears the most blame on our side."

"Could be worse," McKay said philosophically. "Maybe they'll promote Admiral Kimmer to take her place."

"I'd rather it be someone else," the admiral said, shaking her head. "Cyril's too good a combat commander to stick him behind a desk, especially at a time like this. No, I'd rather it was someone a bit less useful on the battlefield, like Vice Admiral-"

"Pardon me, Admiral," Lieutenant Atkinson interrupted from behind them, "but we're receiving a signal from Arzachel Command."

Novak raised an eyebrow. "From Rick, hm? Maybe he'll have some operational news for us… Put him through, Ron."

"Right away, Ma'am." Hurriedly tapping at his console -no mere lieutenant wanted to keep a vice admiral waiting- Atkinson swiftly transferred the incoming signal to the main display, giving Novak and McKay both a proper field of view.

Unlike their last direct communication, in the immediate aftermath of Break The World, Vice Admiral Rick Taggart didn't look as though he'd been awake for days on end; he appeared weary -understandable, under the circumstances- but not as harried or exhausted as he had in the wake of that terrible disaster.

"Rick," Novak greeted with a small smile. "Good to hear from you… I think."

"_Likewise, Sierra,"_ Taggart agreed, with a tired smile of his own. _"You look like you've been holding up well enough, under the circumstances."_

"Possibly because all we've been doing is hang here for months on end," she answered pointedly. "Rest is about all that we do. So is this a social call, or do you have something interesting to tell us?"

"_Oh, I think you'll find it interesting, Sierra,"_ he assured her. _"And you, too, Alistair,"_ he added, nodding at the flag captain. _"Sorry it took so long to get back to you, but things have been pretty hectic here at Arzachel. What's left of First Fleet -along with _Kyriotite,_ Fourth Fleet's sole survivor- made it back here this morning, and we were busy even before that, trying to analyze the outcome of Operation Fatman."_

Novak nodded in understanding. "Did you come to any conclusions?"

"_Yeah: we got steamrollered."_ Taggart's expression turned unwontedly serious, lacking his usual impish humor. _"Fact is, Fourth Fleet was just about completely wiped out by just one ship. We still don't know just what in the world that _Nazca_ was carrying, but we do know it's death on anything carrying nuclear weapons."_

"We sort of gathered that," Novak said dryly, "from all the bright lights out at L5. So what about the reaction from the top brass? I know it's only been two days, but I imagine they've made _some_ decisions in the matter."

"_They have,"_ Taggart confirmed. _"First off, there was an _immediate_ order -and I mean immediate; within two hours of the attack- to remove _all_ nuclear weapons from every installation in space, be it ship or base. We sent the last of ours down to Earth this morning, in a reentry capsule… Also, though it isn't official yet, word is that Admiral Desai is being sacked… probably with a full-blown court martial."_

Novak winced. "I can't say I'm surprised -if _Ophanim_ had been allowed to move in, they might've found and destroyed that _Nazca_ in time- but still… Any word on her replacement?"

"_Not yet,"_ the senior admiral admitted. _"Though there _have_ been some wild rumors about bringing Les Chernock back out of retirement, though whether to replace Desai or take over from _her_ replacement is open to question."_

McKay barked a short, incredulous laugh. "Vice Admiral Chernock?" he repeated in disbelief. "He's been in disgrace ever since ZAFT kicked his behind in the Blockade, five years ago! By the time the Earth Alliance was even formed, he was already on half-pay, drinking martinis in Vera Cruz. Who in their right mind would suggest bringing _him_ back to active duty?"

"_Don't ask me, Alistair,"_ Taggart replied, shaking his head. _"Now, I happen to think ol' Les was just used as a scapegoat; considering that it was the first time anyone on our side had even _heard_ of military mobile suits, _nobody_ could've brought Fourth Fleet home intact, and he was otherwise a pretty decent officer. Nonetheless, the very fact that he _was_ a scapegoat ought to make the mere suggestion of bringing him back a suicidal career move. On the other hand, it _was_ Director Azrael who spearheaded his removal, and since Azrael's dead…"_

Novak nodded thoughtfully. "I guess you've got a point, at that… though whether or not the man would even consent to come back is an open question." She shrugged. "Anyway, I think that matter is a bit above our pay grade, Rick. Which, in turn, leads me to think you had another reason for getting in touch with me just now."

"_I did indeed, little minx,"_ Taggart acknowledged, pretending not to notice Novak's faint blush… or the look that, by rights, ought to have killed him. _"Fact is, Admiral Sykes got in touch with me this morning, and informed me that there's been a new development with the Seirans."_

Novak's eyes brightened with interest. "Something new is happening in Orb?" she asked eagerly, embarrassment forgotten as the prospect of an end to _Dominion_'s endless rest filled her mind.

"_Sure is,"_ he said with a smile. _"Maybe not decisive yet… but apparently Unato is intending to use Operation Fatman -and Section Nine's participation therein- as a propaganda tool. Something about how ZAFT -with the help of the Major's merry band of supposedly nonaligned cutthroats- massacred the entire Fourth Fleet with a new, nuclear-based WMD."_

Disbelief returned to Novak's expression. "A ZAFT _nuclear_ weapon?" she repeated. "Rick, even if _that_ were believable -which it isn't, seeing as the PLANTs _hate_ nukes- how, exactly, is that supposed to be a tool in _our_ favor? In the right or not, we _were_ the aggressors, and the whole world knows it!"

"_The 'Big Lie', Sierra,"_ he reminded her. _"Remember, the bigger the lie a government tells, the more likely people are to believe it, simply because they don't think the government would dare say something so outrageous unless it were true."_

She grimaced. "Right, right, the 'follow the crowd' mentality… Sorry, Rick, but I never could understand that sort of thing."

"_Seeing as I've always suspected you were raised by wolves,"_ Taggart said dryly, _"that doesn't surprise me. Look, the point is, this might mean some genuine movement on your part soon enough… so I'm supposed to inform you to standby to implement Operation Meteor within two weeks."_

A chill wind seemed to sweep through the bridge at those words… but that wind was followed not by fear, but by anticipation. _Dominion_'s crew had been preparing for the mission codenamed "Operation Meteor" since shortly after the ship's commissioning. The idea of finally being able to carry out the operation…

Sierra Novak nodded slowly, with an equally slow smile. "Oh, we'll be ready, Rick. We'll be ready…"

* * *

Orb Union, DiFalco Residence, Roof

* * *

"Man, what a weird month," Dearka Elsman said with heartfelt sigh, leaning back against the railing of the DiFalco home's rooftop balcony. "A nuclear attack two days ago, foiled by a weapon I've never heard of… and then there's what was waiting for us when he got here last month…"

"Don't you mean 'who'?" Miriallia Haw suggested, resting her head on his shoulder. _"I_ certainly didn't expect to see him there; even if I hadn't thought Ken killed him two and a half years ago, I never would've expected him to actually _revive_ the guy."

"Me either," Dearka admitted. "I guess it _is_ kind of nice that most of the old team is still around… but I don't know if I really trust him yet." He chuckled suddenly. "Of course, I'm not sure Yzak will ever trust _me_ again. I'm kinda surprised he hasn't come down here to assassinate me yet, for not being there when the attack went down."

His girlfriend nodded silently. She knew Dearka's words weren't solely satire directed at Yzak Joule; they also stemmed partly from his own feeling of guilt. The night they'd looked up at the sky to see the lights of nuclear fire, they'd known as well as their hosts what was going on… and Dearka had wanted nothing more than to be up there himself, helping out his comrades. Being a mere spectator for such a battle didn't sit easily with him… not when it was his comrades -his _friends-_ who were up there, fighting and dying without him.

That the battle had ended in less than half an hour, with the use of the device Ken had since informed them was called a "Neutron Stampeder", did nothing to assuage Dearka's guilt over not being there. Mir knew that, deep down, he thought that he could've done _something,_ at least prevented some of the casualties that occurred before the Neutron Stampeder was used…

"What's done is done, Dearka," she said to him now, reaching an arm around his waist. "Maybe you could've done something meaningful if you'd been there… but maybe not, too. You heard what Ken said: even Yzak was having trouble, and the Duel is more maneuverable than the Buster. And even the Buster is only one machine; there's a limit to how much even that could've affected a battle on that kind of scale."

Dearka sighed. "Yeah, I know… but still, I can't help thinking that I could've done _something._ Besides, it was my _duty_ to be there. We knew before we even left the PLANTs what the situation was heading toward…" He shook his head. "I'm not even sure why I was granted leave in the first place, all things considered."

"Probably because of the Stampeder," Mir suggested. "I mean, the pilots might've been in the dark about it, but the people doing the planning obviously knew; with that in mind, they probably figured that it wouldn't be a problem if you took the time to attend your best friend's wedding. And yes," she added, before he could interrupt, "I know there's the chance you could've at least helped out against that new machine that ambushed Yzak, but your superiors didn't even know it existed at the time."

He sighed again… but his mood was beginning to lift at last. "Yeah, I guess you've got a point there. I mean, before the attack not even Falcon had thought of the possibility that the Earth Forces had used Preybird-based technology in other mobile suits, so it was reasonable to assume that Yzak wouldn't face any really tough opposition back there…" He snorted. "Definitely reasonable, come to think of it. The top brass back in the PLANTs are no dummies, and neither they nor Falcon thought of it… or even Commander Le Creuset, and he's even more devious than Falcon, sometimes. Fooled Falcon _and_ all of ZAFT about his intentions up until Mendel…"

Mir pulled herself closer to him. "And that's why you're still nervous around him, right?"

Dearka snorted. "Like you aren't? But yeah, that's part of it; and it doesn't help that the last time we saw each other, he nearly killed." He shook his head. "If I'd been armed, I might've killed him myself last month, before I even had the chance to think about it…"

* * *

Orb Union, Clyne Residence/Reverend Malchio's Orphanage, January 6th, C.E. 74 (One Month Previously)

* * *

Extending a hand to help Mir out of the car's front passenger seat, Dearka shot a bemused glance at Ken. "You know, I still don't know why you insisted we drop by here before getting settled in. It'll be nice to see Athrun and Lacus again, mind you, but it still would've been nice to at least get unpacked first."

Climbing out of the backseat -Dearka having insisted on driving, with the claim that Ken drove like a maniac… a sentiment he shared with several others who knew the ace- Ken gave his friend an enigmatic look. "Something you need to see," he said quietly, no trace of banter in voice or manner. "Better to get it over with, I think… especially considering the events of two years ago."

Dearka started to speak, paused, and finally shook his head. "And here I thought Murrue said you didn't talk in riddles anymore… Maybe it's just that you don't talk to _her_ in riddles anymore, because I can't think of anything that happened two years ago that would be urgent now…"

"Dearka," Mir said dryly, as the trio walked toward the orphanage's front door, "this is Ken we're talking about, remember? Of _course_ he speaks in riddles; he wouldn't be Ken if he actually said what was really on his mind."

Ken favored her with a mock-annoyed look, but said nothing as they neared the door. Such banter would once have been utterly alien to him, in the wake of the repeated tragedies he'd endured early in the First Bloody Valentine War. Now, though, he'd begun to come to terms with his losses, aided greatly by his fiancé Murrue Ramius and battlefield partner Cagalli.

The passionate, affable, and almost cocky Ken DiFalco of the C.E. 69 Blockade was gone forever, but the cold, calculating killing machine that had replaced him had also mellowed since Second Jachin, becoming merely reserved instead of emotionless. The new Ken could take a joke… and even, when the situation warranted it, grin outright… occasionally.

They didn't even need to knock when they reached the front door; before Ken's hand could reach it, the door swung open, and a smiling Athrun Zala greeted them. "Dearka!" he said, before any of them could speak. "It's good to see you. How long has it been?"

"Six months, give or take," Dearka replied with an answering smile, clapping his former teammate -and once near-rival- on the shoulder. "Not since before Armory One, anyway. You've been busy playing engineer, while Yzak and I kept an eye on the PLANTs… for whatever good it did when the first strike _did_ come."

Athrun nodded. "Yeah, patrolling L5 doesn't help much when it's an L_4_ installation that gets raided… Well, come in, all of you," he added, stepping to one side. "I've… got a pretty good idea of why Falcon brought you here first, so you might as well get it over with."

Dearka's eyebrows went up. _Get it over with… first Falcon said it, now Athrun. Just what is it that's waiting for us here, anyway? It's not like _both_ of them to get this mysterious on me!_

Before he could air his suspicions, though, Mir nodded cordially to their host. "Hi, Athrun," she said quietly. "It's been a while."

Athrun nodded somberly. "Yeah, it has."

Neither Dearka nor Ken were surprised by the quiet exchange. They had both realized long before that, though Athrun and Mir could be on good terms, even friends, there would always be a certain coolness, a certain distance, between them.

After all, Athrun _had_ been the one to kill Mir's first boyfriend, Tolle Koenig, nearly three years earlier.

Neither Ken nor Dearka had personally witnessed the event; they'd both lost their own mobile suits shortly before, and Ken had only just returned to the sky in Preybird when it went down… but unlike Dearka or Mir, he had discretely viewed the battle data later, and observed Tolle's final, ill-advised flight in Ken's own former ZGMF-515 CGUE.

He'd seen the brash youth's awkward attempt to engage Athrun's GAT-X303 Aegis… and watched as, seconds into the engagement, Aegis sliced the CGUE -and Tolle- in half with an almost casual saber slash, ending the Heliopolis survivor's life with brutal suddenness.

Ken had never told Mir exactly how her boyfriend had died… nor did he ever intend to. Tolle's own recklessness had been his undoing, but Ken had been in similar situations himself, and would not question Tolle's motives… or his bravery.

"Well," Athrun said presently, in a more normal tone, "come with me, and you'll see why Ken brought you here." He smiled faintly. "Just… try not to react _too_ strongly, okay? I heard Mu already nearly shot up the place."

Mir blinked. "Um…?"

Her boyfriend simply sighed, falling into step with Athrun. "You'd better have a good explanation for this," he said wearily, "or else I'm going to feed _both_ of you into the nearest fusion reactor. I'm getting a little tired of all the riddles, and I've already had a long flight down here. So…"

"You won't be feeling tired for long," Athrun said dryly, stopping at the living room door. "In fact…" Trailing off, he opened the door, stepped aside, and waited for the reaction he knew was imminent. _I just hope Dearka isn't armed,_ he thought, then amended, _No, I _really_ hope Miriallia isn't carrying so much as a pocket knife. If she is…_

Giving Athrun another suspicious look, Dearka stepped through, Mir at his side… and, like Mu, instantly stopped. "No way!" he blurted, looking -and feeling- as though hit in the head with a sledgehammer. "It… it can't be!"

Mir looked at him, then glanced at the blonde-haired man seated on the room's couch, and finally turned back to Dearka, a puzzled look on her face. "Uh… do you know him, Dearka?"

"Oh, I believe you could say that, Miss Haw," the blonde-haired man said with a small smile, before Dearka could regain his speech faculties. "I'm not surprised you don't recognize me -by the time we might've met, I was already 'dead'- but Dearka, well… I'd have been much surprised if he didn't recognize his old commander."

Her head whipped back toward the man, her eyes wide with shock. _"What?!"_

Still standing at the doorway, Ken shook his head. "I told you it was something you should take care of now, instead of later," he said calmly. "I knew _that_ face would come as a bit of a shock to you, Dearka, considering what happened two years ago."

"But… but…" Dearka violently shook his head, trying to clear it. "But he's dead! Two years ago, Falcon, you _killed_ him… and even if you didn't, why is he _here?!_ I can't believe you'd allow someone like him to-"

"Just a moment, Dearka," Rau Le Creuset interjected, raising a hand. "Things aren't quite as they were when we last met, I assure you… including my mental state. A lot has changed in the last eighteen months, thanks in large part to Falcon… and Sophia."

Dearka glanced accusingly at his friend. "Sophia knew about this, too?" he demanded. "And _you_ were the one behind all this?" At Ken's simple nod, his hands clenched involuntarily. "Why on earth would you do that, Falcon?! Have you forgotten that he nearly destroyed the entire world two and a half years ago?!"

Mir gripped his shoulder. "Let him talk, Dearka," she advised. "He can't explain himself if we keep shouting at him." Her own eyes were narrow, however, as she gazed at the ever-enigmatic soldier. "But you'd better have a good explanation for this, Ken. Bringing back Rau Le Creuset…"

Nodding gratefully to Mir, Ken leaned back against the doorway, gathering his thoughts. _That went a bit better than I expected. At least Dearka didn't try to kill him outright, the way I thought he might… Of course, _Yzak_ will probably be a different matter, but he can wait for the time being…_

"All right," he said at last. "Rau, do you want to get the ball rolling?"

"I might as well," his former archenemy agreed, and leaned forward, hands clasped, propping up his chin; the incongruously casual pose from the ex-ZAFT commander threw Dearka off a little more… which at least made it easier for Rau to begin without interruption. "All right. Both of you know, of course, what my… mental state was like, toward the end of the War."

Dearka snorted. "Yeah," he agreed sardonically. "Completely out of your mind, if your ranting was anything to go by, when we fought at Second Jachin."

Rau smiled faintly. "Crude, but, I must admit, accurate. Well, the first thing you should understand, Dearka, is that I wasn't always completely insane. I did have my bouts, mind you -I was the one who burned down Al Da Flaga's home, for example, when Mu and I were only children- but enlisting in ZAFT allowed me to keep it largely under control for some time; as Falcon will attest, discipline can do wonders for keeping one's sanity intact."

Mir nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I can understand that." Having known Ken throughout most of his "automaton" period, in addition to being very familiar with his traumatic past, she knew better than most how fragile the ace had been during that time.

"Well," Rau resumed, "I must admit that it couldn't last. Considering my shortened telomeres, I was aging at a rate rapid enough to induce great pain at frequent intervals; I had medication to numb the pain, but it took its toll nonetheless. Now, despite certain… issues Falcon had with me over the Endymion disaster, I was not, in fact, insane at that time. I was quite sane for most of the first year of the War; it was only around the time of Heliopolis that my grip on sanity truly began to fray, and at that point it was mostly a matter of undermining my judgment."

"Which explains why you authorized D package weaponry for the final battle there," Dearka said slowly, realization dawning. "I'd wondered about that; justifying _that_ to the Council, even with _Archangel_ and the G-weapons as mitigating circumstances, couldn't have been easy."

"True," Rau acknowledged. "In point of fact, I _couldn't_ justify it; I resorted to lying about what happened, or at least stretching the truth. I placed the blame on Falcon instead, suggesting that it was his destruction of Matthew and Olor's GINNs that really caused the collapse, however little he may have intended for it to happen. Now, there _is_ a certain amount of truth in that, but it wouldn't have occurred at all had I not sent them in like that."

He shook his head then, and smiled ruefully. "But I digress; we can discuss the inner workings of my command decisions at a later date. At any rate, that was when my mind truly began to go… and by the time you and Yzak arrived in Gibraltar, while _Archangel_ was in Libya, I was in a swiftly-descending spiral. My health had taken a turn for the worse, and my sanity followed suit as the pain grew more frequent, and more intense."

At those words, Ken's eyes took on a shadowed cast, as he recalled another man, with a very similar problem. _Victor… I wish we could've talked more, before the end. If only I'd known what was wrong, maybe we could've done something, cured you like we did Rau…_

Even as the thought crossed his mind, though, Ken knew that it was nothing more than wishful thinking. Victor Tempest's aging problem had been even worse than Rau's; by the time Ken had learned of his predicament, it was far, far too late to mend the damage… even had he been able to take the risk.

_Which, of course, I couldn't. Victor was right: if I'd done anything else, ZAFT would simply have treated his injuries, and sent him out to fight me again… and with his mind in the shape it was in by then, he _would_ have followed orders…_

Nonetheless, Victor "Huckebein" Tempest's death would always sit heavily with him, for once upon a time, the unstable youth had been one of Ken's best friends…

Oblivious to Ken's bleak musings, Rau was still continuing his tale. "…So," he was saying, "I was actively planning to take advantage of Falcon and Zala's plots myself by the time _Archangel_ departed Libya. My intention was to use them both to destroy the world, with the help of Muruta Azrael, and that remained my goal up to the very end of the War."

Dearka gazed at him through narrowed eyes, regard still harsh. "That much I know already," he said quietly. "And you also came very close to succeeding, nearly killing several of us in the process… and Sparky's death is basically your fault, too. So why, exactly, should I trust a madman? By rights, Commander, I should kill you right now." His mouth quirked in a grim smile. "Or maybe just hand Mir the knife; she's pretty good with one."

"So I've heard," Rau acknowledged softly. "And if you so chose… I wouldn't stop you. As you say, Lance Cooper's death was my responsibility, as were many others over the course of the last few months of the War."

"That's where I come in," Ken interjected, stepping fully into the room at last. "It was just after the battle that _Odin_ found what little remained of Providence, and recovered both it and Rau's body."

Mir looked over at him in surprise. "I never heard anything about that. I mean, I remember Captain Chance and Admiral Halberton taking _Odin_ out to look for survivors, but I never heard that they actually found Providence."

"That's because Falcon was more than a little paranoid about the whole affair," Rau said dryly. "If I had to guess, he was worried someone else might obtain my near-dead body, and revive me much as Tempest was revived by ZAFT. So, as soon as Jason contacted him, he ordered my body put into cryogenic stasis, for further study of my genetic anomalies… and for safekeeping."

"Right," Ken confirmed. "And eventually, he and Tempest -in his case separated into two, since I decapitated him in battle- were moved to Section Nine HQ, and kept in a cryo facility there. It was at that point that I enlisted Sophia's assistance, since she was the closest thing to a genetics specialist that I could get both quickly and discretely. She began working for Section Nine part-time as our top geneticist, and she's been studying Rau and Victor's body ever since."

_Well,_ Dearka thought to himself, _that at least explains why she kept disappearing every so often; makes sense Falcon would pick her, after her years of study into Metzinger's work… but that still doesn't explain one thing…_

He looked sidelong at Rau. "Mind telling me how you being almost a corpse in cryo-freeze led to you being here, looking like you actually have regrets, and without ranting about the destruction of the world?"

"That would be because of the last Supreme Council election," Ken explained, smiling crookedly. "Fact is, I knew something about Gilbert Durandal that most people don't: for several years -right up until Second Jachin, in fact- he was Rau's personal physician. That alone was enough to make him suspect, as far as I was concerned, so I decided I needed an expert on how Durandal thinks. That, however, led me at first to a dead end: as near as I could tell, there _weren't_ any experts on Durandal, at least none who were still alive." He nodded at Rau. "None, that is, except one… _if_ I could both find a way to revive and repair his body, and restore his mind."

Rau nodded. "Yes," he said quietly. "You see, Dearka, it was pure necessity that brought about my resurrection. Had Falcon had any other options at the time, I'm sure he'd have left me in that limbo permanently… as he should have."

"As I would have been _wrong_ to do," Ken corrected, surprising Dearka and Mir. "We walked a very similar path, you and I… and if I could have a second chance, you deserved one as well."

The ex-ZAFT commander sighed. "I wish I could believe that, Falcon, believe me… but it's not that simple."

Ken simply snorted, and Dearka rubbed his temples. _I'm getting a headache,_ he thought wearily, listening to the -to him- unprecedented argument between the two former ZAFT commanders. _And if I let this go on, we're going to lose sight of what we talking about, and I'll _never_ get any answers…_

Fortunately for his sanity, Mir quickly spoke up, before the other two could begin debating what was obviously an old topic to them. "Look," she said, glancing between Ken and Rau, "I think I can understand why you'd decide to bring Le Creuset back, Ken… but I don't quite understand why he isn't insane anymore, or what it is about Chairman Durandal that makes you so nervous."

"That, Miss Haw, is something of a long story," Rau told her, momentarily jarred out of his melancholy musing. "One which, regrettably, I no longer fully remember. But the basics? It begins in large part with a young man by the name of Rey Za Burrel, while my own recovery continues through the offices of Sophia's files, recovered from Metzinger's lab some years ago, and Ulen Hibiki's just two years ago…"

* * *

Orb Union, DiFalco Residence, Roof, February 11th, C.E. 74

* * *

"Well," Mir said quietly, interrupting Dearka's reverie, "I can see why you're… uncomfortable with the whole idea. I wasn't too sure about it myself, even after Ken explained everything." She looked up at him soberly. "Do you trust him, Dearka?"

"If you mean Le Creuset, no, I don't," he said promptly. "He nearly killed me at Jachin, and he was trying to destroy the entire world at the time. I know, Falcon says he's recovered, and I have to admit the reversal of his aging lends _some_ credence to the idea, but still… I can't just forget what he did back then, you know?"

She nodded sadly. "Yeah, I do know… I can't really say that I trust him, either; I mean, he _was_ behind just about everything that happened in the last months of the War, at least by proxy." Mir shook her head. "To be honest, I don't know why _Ken_ trusts him. Those two were mortal enemies for so long…"

Dearka sighed. "Yeah, it beats me, too. It isn't like him to be so trusting -his months-long silence about GENESIS three years ago is proof enough of that- but he does… And," he admitted with a rueful smile, _"because_ he does, we're pretty much going to have to live with it, unless we want to try locking them _both_ up."

They both chuckled at that idea. It was, of course, possible that they could do just that; Section Nine's loyalty was mostly to its commanding officer, but not entirely. Bringing back Rau Le Creuset from the dead could well be what they judged an insane act… but, as Dearka and Mir were both aware, there _were_ two members of the organization whose devotion to Ken was absolute. They were also both highly experienced pilots, and one of them was a talented engineer and hacker in his own right.

In order to truly take Ken DiFalco out of the picture with anything short of a nuclear weapon, they'd have to go through Thomas Delaney and Leanne Eldridge first.

"Well," Dearka said at length, relaxing again at last, "I'll give Falcon the benefit of the doubt for now. After all, we're on the verge of being caught up in this war ourselves, so the last thing we need is him out of action. But still…"

"You'll be watching Le Creuset like a hawk," Mir finished for him, then grinned. "Or maybe I should say… like a Falcon?"

That set them both chuckling again, and the tension drained out of them completely as they watched the sun pass lazily across the sky.

* * *

Orb, Izanagi Island, Parliament Building, Chief Representative's Office

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­

_Why do I have the feeling I've had this meeting before?_ Section Nine's Major thought to himself, as he stepped into Cagalli's office once more. _Once again, I've sent my forces to do the right thing, within the letter of our charter… and once again, Unato Ema Seiran summons me to call me on the carpet._

In fairness, the Major granted, adjusting his gasmask, Unato and his son weren't the _entire_ reason he was here. Cagalli had also requested his presence, knowing full well that he almost certainly had a more complete analysis of the aftermath of the attack on the PLANTs than Orb itself did… and that he was one of the few allies she had at this point, regarding the World Security Treaty Organization issue.

_Unfortunately, that just happens to place me in an "ideal" position to be cross-examined by Unato again… Well, I knew it was going to come from the moment I ordered _Asmodeus_ out to the PLANTs; time for me to pull another semantic rabbit out of my hat, I suppose._

"Thank you for coming, Major," Cagalli said formally, seated as usual behind her desk; equally as usual, Kira Yamato stood behind and to the right of her chair, looking admirably grave. "Prime Minister Seiran would like to speak to you regarding Section Nine's recent actions; before we get to that, though, I'd like your analysis of the Earth Alliance's attempted nuclear attack against the PLANTs, two days ago."

"Of course, My Lady," the Major acknowledged, his mask hiding his smile at the distrust of Orb's own intelligence services implicit in Cagalli's request. _Not that I blame her, considering the control the Seirans have been exerting over personnel assignments and political appointments of late… _"In that case, My Lords and Lady, I present to you our after-action analysis of the Third Battle of Jachin Due."

Watching the Major step to a wall screen and bring it to life, Kira nodded mentally. _Third Jachin… yeah, it figures that's the name that battle would get. And it's the only one of the three that Ken didn't participate in… Come to think of it, I think that and Boaz are the only battles anywhere near the PLANTs that he wasn't present for…_

He doubted the fact was lost on the masked man before them. Once dedicated solely to the defense of the PLANTs, he remained a staunch patriot, aiding them whenever Section Nine's charter allowed for it; participating in Third Jachin merely be proxy couldn't have sat well with him, knowing him as Kira did.

If he was, in fact, perturbed by the fact, however, the Major didn't show it. Instead, he merely brought up on the screen a space map, showing an orbital diagram of the Earth Sphere, as well as exploded views of both Arzachel lunar base and the PLANTs themselves.

"This," the Major announced, "is how the attack codenamed Operation Fatman began, My lady. As befitted an operation named for the second nuclear bomb dropped in World War II, a number of nuclear weapons were shipped to Arzachel several months before the attack was launched; my analysts believe many of them were brought in from Ptolemaeus Base, presumably from underground storage areas untouched by demolitions."

Cagalli nodded at that. In the wake of the disastrous Second Battle of Jachin Due, and the subsequent anti-nuclear provisions of the Junius Treaty, the Earth Alliance had summarily demolished Ptolemaeus Base, making a great show of destroying one of their largest nuclear stockpiles in the process. Some, however -Cagalli included- believed that they had deemed Ptolemaeus to have outlived its usefulness, and was now potentially too vulnerable to assault or sabotage, thus requiring the move to a new base, one which appeared to have been originally built during the mad rush to the climax of the Bloody Valentine War.

That the nuclear stockpiles likely had, in fact, survived completely intact did not surprise Cagalli in the least. Having been present for a number of the greatest atrocities of the War -and having only barely escaped the Razing of Orb- she expected nothing but the worst from them… especially where nuclear weapons were concerned.

"This, however, was only the tip of the iceberg," the Major continued, oblivious to Cagalli's thoughts (or even, apparently, Unato's shifting in his chair at the reference to Earth Alliance treachery). "These images were taken on January Third, two months before the attack."

Kira, abandoning his disinterested bodyguard pose in order to bring his own military expertise to bear on the problem, stepped away from the wall, moving closer to the image. "Those are…" he murmured, examining the recon photos… and then his eyes widened. "Those are _Archangel_-class!"

"Right," the Major confirmed with a nod. "Captain Foreman also confirmed their presence at Third Jachin, though they didn't participate in the actual fighting. According to signal intercepts decoded and unscrambled after the battle, these are known as _Kyriotite_ and _Ophanim_; as nearly as we've been able to determine, Operation Fatman was directed from _Ophanim_'s bridge, under the overall command of Vice Admiral Cyril Kimmer."

Cagalli nodded thoughtfully. "Kimmer… Isn't he one of the new crop of admirals, promoted after Second Jachin blew up most of their old flag ranks?"

"Close," he corrected. "Kimmer was a rear admiral at Second Jachin, commanding Battleship Squadron 17, with Fifth Fleet. Nevertheless, yes, it's fair to say he's one of the newer crop. At this point, however, his exact stature from a practical standpoint is unclear, as is his connection -if any- with Blue Cosmos; until we learned he had been given _Ophanim_ and _Kyriotite,_ we didn't consider him prominent enough to bother keeping detailed files on."

She nodded again at that. Considering Section Nine's limited manpower -and funding, especially considering their weapons development programs- it only made sense for them to concentrate their intelligence-gathering efforts on officers they had reason to believe were actually important in the grand scheme. As one flag officer among many, Vice Admiral Kimmer was inconsequential; as the commander of two entire fleets, particularly with a pair of _Archangel_-class ships involved…

_If they're building more _Archangel_-class ships,_ Cagalli thought with a sudden chill, _they must've learned more from the War than we thought… and that they're a lot better prepared for the _new_ war than we'd predicted. That means… No _wonder_ Unato's starting to push so hard!_

"Unfortunately," the Major went on, metallic voice taking on a grim note, "they aren't the only new ships we've discovered. Our reconnaissance has also revealed the existence of a _third_ new mobile assault ship, this one parked at L1 for reasons currently unknown." He twitched his shoulders in a minute shrug.. "Though that, I suppose, is of little consequence to the matter at hand. The next datum, however, _is_ quite significant." He tapped the screen controls, bringing up a new image… one which all three of his listeners found familiar, and unsettling.

"A Gundam!" Kira breathed, staring at the black mobile suit in shock. "They built a new one…?"

The Major nodded gravely. "It's only supposition at this point, as its exact operating system is currently unknown, but we believe that to be a reasonable assumption. This image was taken by Lieutenant Commander Chevalier's gun camera, just after _Asmodeus_ entered the engagement; according to his report, and additional testimony supplied by ZAFT from Commander Joule, this new model is superior in several -perhaps all- respects to the Heliopolis-line G-weapons. Apparently going by the codename 'GAT-X506 Sigma', this unit outperformed GAT-X102 Duel, and was only driven off when _Asmodeus_ arrived." His face was concealed by his mask, as ever, yet he still conveyed a very grim attitude as he turned to face his listeners. "Two points of grave concern have arisen from this encounter: according to Commander Joule, Sigma's pilot stated the machine was the 'latest product of Preybird-based technologies'… and shortly thereafter, he _destroyed_ Duel's shield with a single shot from one of his rifles."

Even Unato's eyes went wide at that, and Kira inhaled sharply. Preybird-based technology wasn't as surprising as it might've been, considering the existence of Nightwing, but the idea of a weapon that could destroy an anti-beam shield outright with a single shot was more than merely unsettling; it was downright _shocking._

In theory, it could be done; no defense was truly impregnable. Nevertheless, it was utterly without precedent, either in the Blockade, the War itself, or the more recent conflicts. Kira had, himself, used Freedom's shield to intercept weapons up to and including mobile assault ship-grade Gottfried cannons. Since Duel's shield had been upgraded even beyond Freedom's BVWI-era shield, the Earth Alliance had to have made a fundamental breakthrough in weapons' technology within the last two years to shatter that shield with a single shot.

Surprisingly, it was Unato who next broke the silence. "You said 'Preybird-based' technologies, Major," he said carefully. "Are you saying that the Earth Alliance now has access to some of the essential designs of Preybird itself?"

"They must, My Lord," the Major said flatly. "As you know, Commander DiFalco encountered and engaged a near-direct copy of Preybird during Break The World - based on Sigma's designation, we've tentatively ID'd it as GAT-X505- and judging from its performance there, the resemblance was far more than merely skin-deep. This 'Nightwing' held Preybird at bay until the very end of the operation, and that, My Lord, is a feat not many could accomplish, and certainly not in an incomplete copy of Preybird." He sighed, the exhaled breath making a harsh noise through his mask's filter. "Regrettably, they almost certainly obtained the data from _us;_ our best guess, at the moment, is that they slipped a spy into our ranks before we were even officially established. As you now know, Preybird was in our custody at the time, for repairs… and thus at its most vulnerable, from an espionage standpoint."

Unato nodded thoughtfully, but said no more as he leaned back into his chair… a fact which struck Cagalli as ominous, considering how disturbing the Major's tidings were. _New Preybird derivatives… that _can't_ be good…_

She took a deep breath, forcing the matter into the back of her mind for later consideration. "All right, then," she said, more calmly than she felt. "Major, can you give me a general outline of the salient points of the battle?"

"Of course, My Lady." Tapping at the screen's controls again, the Major focused the display on L5, in and around the PLANTs themselves. "On February Seventh, two entire Earth Alliance fleets departed from Arzachel Base, on Luna: Fourth, equipped with nuclear weapons and led by the _Archangel_-class mobile assault ship _Kyriotite,_ and First, commanded by the _Archangel_-class warship _Ophanim_; Vice Admiral Cyril Kimmer commanded the entire operation from her command deck, though that fact did not become clear till after the battle."

Cagalli nodded, unsurprised. The Fourth Fleet's reputation for carrying nuclear weapons had begun when one of its ships, the _Nelson_-class battleship _Franklin Roosevelt,_ carried a nuclear-armed Möbius and unsuspecting pilot Alicia Cateau to the attack on Junius Seven; that reputation had solidified when the Fleet was used for both the destruction of Boaz and the failed nuclear assault of Second Jachin. It had been wiped out in the latter battle by the first shot from GENESIS, but it was somehow fitting the resurrected unit would be used for the new attack.

_And,_ she thought with more than a trace of savage satisfaction, _it's fitting that they were wiped out again in the process…_

"They reached Lagrange Point 5 two days later," the Major was continuing, "on the Ninth. At that point, Vice Admiral Kimmer seems to have proceeded with a decoy maneuver: he held _Ophanim_ back with Fourth Fleet, while most of First Fleet went in to soften up ZAFT's opposition, which was, perhaps, a bit more significant than they had expected. Exactly what happened beyond that point is unclear, save that for the next ninety-six minutes, operations were effectively at a stalemate: First Fleet couldn't breach ZAFT's defenses, but ZAFT failed to inflict crippling damage on First Fleet in turn."

As he spoke, flittering icons and data codes moved across the display, representing the massive engagement that took place near the remnants of Jachin Due. Though the time scale was compressed, it was clear from the many flickering icons just how brutal the engagement had been… until, as the Major had said, ninety-six minutes into the battle. At that point, the silver-gray icon of a Section Nine warship -_Asmodeus_- charged into the battle from the side, engaging and destroying an _Agamemnon,_ while a smaller icon -representing a single mobile suit- collided with that of Sigma.

At that point, Sigma pulled back from the battlezone… and several new red icons moved in from the shadow of Jachin's remains.

"At this point," the Major resumed, "Sigma was driven into retreat by reinforcements from _Asmodeus;_ as nearly as we can determine, our ship's arrival also spurred Admiral Kimmer into launching the second phase of Operation Fatman. Fourth Fleet joined First Fleet, while First Fleet's Battleship Squadron 3 withdrew to cover _Ophanim_. For the next sixteen minutes, the joint ZAFT and Section Nine defense was besieged with nuclear weapons, and the situation began to deteriorate as fresh Earth Alliance ships and pilots engaged the already-embattled defenders."

Kira watched the action intently, remembering as he did his own last encounter with nuclear weapons. He could easily sympathize with the defenders; True ZAFT had had more "Gundam-type" mobile suits at their command than ZAFT had in this engagement, but they had actually been outnumbered by an even greater margin.

"It's at this point that matters stray into a realm which my analysts not only failed to predict, but do not fully understand even now," the Major announced, and nodded at the icon marked _"Marie Curie"._ "One hundred and twelve minutes into the battle, ZAFT employed a device known as a 'Neutron Stampeder', causing a cascade effect across the entire Fourth Fleet line. Exactly what it induced, we're not certain, but we do know that, within thirty seconds of the activation of _Marie Curie_'s weapon, Fourth Fleet's sole surviving ship was _Kyriotite."_

He didn't need to say anything more about the destruction of the Earth Alliance ships; the titanic explosions had been perfectly visible in the night sky, and the memory of that sight was far more descriptive than anything he might've said.

_Of course,_ Kira thought then, _that may cover the battle… but there's still the aftermath to consider. And from what he's said so far, I don't think it's going to be good news._

Cagalli echoed his thoughts a moment later. "So where does this leave the balance of power, Major? With the Earth Alliance… or with ZAFT?"

"Unclear," the Major admitted, turning off the display. "Were we to base our determination simply on the Earth Alliance's penchant for nuclear attacks, I would say that ZAFT held the clear upper hand at the moment; certainly no new nuclear attacks will be launched in space. Unfortunately, there's also Sigma and Nightwing to consider… along with any other new machines they may have developed.."

"Are you saying, then, that this shifts the balance of power in the Earth Alliance's favor?" Unato asked, with an odd gleam in his eye. "Despite the loss of so many of their ships?"

"I said nothing of the sort," the Major corrected frostily. "The conclusion of myself and my analysts, in fact, is that the Earth Alliance has suffered a tremendous setback in orbit; new machines or no, the inability to use nuclear weapons _will_ hamper them, and a handful of new mobile suits, however powerful, will by no means fully compensate for the destruction of so much shipping. They just lost something on the order of thirty _million_ tons of warship, My Lord. In short, they just lost very nearly a third as much as they did at Second Jachin… in the very first battle of the new war. I'd say that puts there orbital fleets in a very delicate position indeed."

"But what of their ground-based forces?" Unato pressed.

"Untouched," the Major said warily. "…Why?"

The nobleman smiled thinly. "In that case, Major, as far as Orb is concerned, what occurred two days ago was a tactical victory but strategic defeat for the PLANTs. With the exceptions of a handful of bases on Earth, _all_ of their military power is in space; therefore, the losses incurred during Operation Fatman have left them in a far weaker position to influence events on Earth. The Earth Alliance, on the other hand, has long kept its orbital and planetary operations distinct from one another, and thus have suffered no loss of capability here."

Cagalli looked at him sharply. She'd fully expected him to begin ripping into the Major for Section Nine's participation in the battle as soon as the masked soldier had finished his briefing; she had _not_ expected him to take it so calmly… even smugly, as though it advanced _his_ goal in some way that she failed to see. _And if it advances _his_ goal, then it's bad for all the rest of us…_

"Just what are you getting at, Unato?" she asked cautiously, decidedly untrusting of his new, smiling demeanor.

"Just this, Lady Cagalli," he said, with another thin smile. "You will recall that the Major earlier recommended that we ally ourselves with ZAFT. At the time, of course, I strongly opposed the notion, but could do little more. Now, however, we learn that ZAFT is no longer in such a strong position. Therefore…"

"I didn't say that, My Lord," the Major interjected sharply. "Underestimated ZAFT's strength -and _over_estimating that of the Alliance- would be very foolish indeed. On an individual basis, any ZAFT mobile suit is worth two or more of the Alliance's most common Dagger variants-"

"But the Earth Alliance has considerably more than twice ZAFT's forces," Unato replied, unperturbed. "The provisions of the Junius Treaty required a reduction in forces, as I'm sure you recall, based on the available resources of each nation. Moreover, ZAFT has not held any kind of superiority over Earth since shortly after Panama, three years ago."

"Again, you're mistaking a mistake by underestimating ZAFT, My Lord," the Major said softly. "But if you insist on going by that measure anyway… just what is the point you're attempting to make?"

"It's very simple, Major," the nobleman said, and turned to Cagalli. "Lady Cagalli, I must inform you that the government will _not_ ratify any kind of treaty with ZAFT… and that we _will_ put the World Security Treaty Organization proposal to a vote one week from today."

* * *

After Unato departed, Ken ripped off his mask, started to throw it… and then visibly forced himself to relax, stuffing the mask into his trench coat instead. "Well, that tears it," he said tensely, taking a moment to glare at the door through which Unato had departed. "A week, huh?"

Cagalli sighed, slumping back in her chair. "A week," she said wearily. "We've got that long to try and turn public opinion around; if we can't, there isn't much we can do to stop him. That bastard… he knows how to play this game too well…"

Kira glanced between the two, brow furrowed. "You're sure he can pull it off? I mean, I know I don't understand politics very well just yet, but… After all, Orb _was_ nearly destroyed three years ago, when Azrael dropped those bombs…"

"Oh, he can do it, Kira," Ken told him, moving to drop into a chair, looking wearier than he had in a long time. "I'm not totally familiar with Orb politics yet myself, but I remember Supreme Council meetings after I was promoted to Patrick's right-hand man. A skilled political manipulator -which, for all his faults and his near-total lack of charisma, Unato _is-_ could all too easily turn this situation to his own advantage."

"He's using that very destruction," Cagalli added, closing her eyes. "Unato's preying on the people's fear of having Orb razed by nuclear weapons again… and I just don't have the experience to know how to counter him. Not yet. Public relations just aren't something I'm very good at."

Having been on the receiving end of his girlfriend's sharp tongue more than once himself, in times past, Kira couldn't disagree there. Cagalli Yula Athha was indisputably strong-willed, but subtlety was not, by any means, her strong suit.

Nor, unfortunately, was it Ken's; at least, not this _type_ of subtlety. He could manipulate enemy military leaders into doing exactly what he wanted them to -hence his success in the capture of the Nova resource satellite- but his specialty was leading military men to certain conclusions; altering public opinion wasn't something he'd ever needed to do.

_And that lack of skill is going to cost us,_ Kira realized. _If we _can't_ turn things around…_

He glanced over at Cagalli. "How much will it hurt us if the treaty goes through?" he asked quietly. "Directly, I mean."

"Badly," Cagalli said honestly, opening her eyes again. "To begin with, if the treaty is ratified by the Cabinet, with public opinion as it is, I'll have basically two options: abandon my principles and sign the treaty… or resign, and show through that how much I believe it to be the wrong course. Unfortunately, while that may alter popular opinion in the long term, in the short term it leaves Unato effectively in control of Orb. I'll do it anyway," she added, fire smoldering in her eyes, "but we need to be aware of the cost… to us, as well as to Orb." She looked over at the ex-ZAFT ace. "You know what I mean."

Ken nodded. "Yes. As soon as he takes the reigns of government, Unato will either order Section Nine to leave Orb entirely… or, if he's feeling particularly confident -which he may be- he'll order my arrest, and send police with a warrant to our local HQ. At that point, all bets are off."

Kira sighed. "That's what I was afraid of… So, what do we do about it?"

To his surprise, it was Cagalli, not Ken, who responded, and without any hesitation at all. "We hold a council of war," she said decisively. "Right now."

Even Ken blinked, caught off guard by her quick decision… and, for a change, not entirely certain of where she was going with it. _I'm used to being the enigmatic one around here,_ he thought, mind working furiously. _What is it that she has in mind…?_

"I don't follow," he said after a moment, choosing the easy way to get answers, rather than strain his brain. He'd learned once that it was unwise to challenge her physically; it appeared now that it might be wise of him not to underestimate her brains, either.

"It's simple," Cagalli told him, smiling faintly at his perplexed reaction. "Look, we know that, if this treaty _does_ go through, the effects will be bad for all of us, right? So, the best thing to do is to have all affected parties talk it over… probably at Morgenröte, since we can be reasonably sure of _their_ loyalty."

Kira nodded thoughtfully. "Makes sense… I know they were more loyal to your father than to anything else when _Archangel_ was first there, three years ago… So, who are we talking about here, Cagalli?"

"The three of us, obviously," she told him, "and, I think, Rick; he might have some useful insight, and it's only fair that we warn him that his Equatorial Union friends might be danger here before long." She turned to the ace. "Ken, can you arrange for _Minerva_'s people to be there, as well?"

"Probably," Ken said slowly, still catching up with her quick thought processes. "Captain Gladys and Millenia, I think, would be the best; I don't know Trine very well, but I can already tell you he'll be better suited to holding the fort than for a serious strategy meeting." He rubbed his eyepatch thoughtfully. "I presume some of the other members of the old gang will be along, too; so, which ones?"

"Besides us, I'd say Murrue, Mu, Andy, and Sophia," Cagalli replied. "I'd say Le Creuset, too," she went on, unhappily but unflinchingly, "except that I don't think it would be a good idea to let ZAFT know that he's still around until absolutely necessary."

"Yeah," Kira agreed, thinking back to his own reaction to learning of the man's survival. "I… don't think it would go over very well, and it'd distract from the situation at hand."

"Concur," Ken mused, smiling faintly. Then he stood, and made his way to the door. "I'll start making the arrangements, then. See you at Morgenröte in, say, fifteen minutes, okay?"

"That sounds about right," Cagalli agreed. "But better make it thirty; isn't Murrue still at work?"

The ace shot her a mildly disgusted look, and then was gone… and Kira allowed himself a quiet laugh, moving to Cagalli's side. "Well," he said, amused, "you don't see _that_ every day: you managed to confuse even Ken."

Cagalli grinned. "Watch it, Kira, or I might do the same thing to _you_ sometime."

* * *

The Moon, Arzachel Base, Pilots' Ready Room

* * *

"All right, people," Commander Allen C. Hamilton told his pilots, "it looks like we're finally ready for active operations."

Jonas Pike and Oscar Goldberg both sat up straight in their seats at the news, looking intent… or more precisely, Pike looked intent, while Goldberg veritably radiated an eagerness to get on with the job of blowing things up.

_Good thing I've got Pike in Sigma,_ Hamilton thought, resigned. _Scar, now… he could be a real problem, considering his lack of subtlety… or anything resembling the ability to aim. I'll need Jonas to ride herd on him, I think…_

"I take it the verdict is in regarding Operation Fatman, Commander?" Pike asked after a moment, jarring his commander back to the present.

"Unofficially, yes, Jonas," Hamilton confirmed. "The two of you are in the clear; Nova, of course, was ordered back early anyway, and as for your retreat, Jonas, that's being blamed on poor planning. The official line, apparently, is that Admiral Desai's operational planning should've taken Section Nine a bit more seriously." He snorted. "Officially, that is. Unofficially, the plan came from on high, and they need a scapegoat… though on the good side, Desai is probably one of our more useless admirals. A leftover from Azrael's time as Director, and one of the less competent ones, at that."

At one time, his candor would've surprised his subordinates, Pike in particular; after all, one did not normally speak so frankly about a flag officer when one was a mere commander. Pike, however, had long since realized that Hamilton was confident enough in his position to simply speak his mind, so long as no officers of captain rank or higher were present… and sometimes even then, depending on exactly which officer it was.

Pike had, at first, thought that his CO was taking advantage of who his father had been -particularly his father's "heroic" death at Second Jachin- but a month after being assigned to Project Zeta, he'd met Rear Admiral Novak, who had informed him it was simply that Hamilton had a truly towering level of self-confidence. Or, as she'd put it, "chutzpah". He knew he was good at his job, that his superiors knew that he was good at his job, and therefore that, as long as he avoided outright insubordination, he would pretty much be left alone, because he was one of their few pilots who could truly match up to the best ZAFT had to offer.

"So," Goldberg said presently, "Admiral Desai is taking all the blame?"

"Almost," Hamilton told him. "Desai, her staff… and a couple of dead officers from Fourth Fleet, most notably Rear Admiral Cartwright. I gather the official line is that he should've known something was up when ZAFT started trying so hard to protect a particular _Nazca,_ and warned Admiral Kimmer." Another snort. "Of course, since Vice Admiral Kimmer had access to essentially the same information as Admiral Cartwright, you'd think _he'd_ be tainted, as well, but apparently the desire for a scapegoat doesn't _quite_ override their recognition of the need for all the competent flag officers we've got."

He didn't need to explain who "they" were; every member of Project Zeta was well aware of who their _true_ superiors were… even if Hamilton and Pike both had a certain distaste for the notion. Distaste or not, they'd continue following orders, so long as those orders remained in accordance with the ideals of the nation to which they'd sworn their oaths.

"At any rate," Hamilton continued, "I didn't call you here to discuss the probable cashiering of various incompetent admirals. The point is that you both have been cleared of any responsibility for the losses in Operation Fatman, and thus will continue to serve as Project Zeta pilots… a fact which is particularly valuable under the present circumstances."

"The present circumstances?" Pike repeated, intrigued. "Is a new operation about to be underway, Commander?"

Hamilton smiled broadly. "Indeed there is, Jonas. _The_ operation, in fact; one which may well give us another shot at both the 'Major' _and_ the Demon Lord himself. Certainly Section Nine will be directly in the line of fire, so we may finally be able to put them out of our misery."

Goldberg leaned forward. "So what's up, Skipper?"

The commander didn't reply at first, instead bringing the wall display to life. "It seems, Scar, that my own Zeta has been deemed combat-ready just in time, because within two weeks, Operation Meteor will be launched… and _this_ will be our target."

Oscar Goldberg took one look at the image that appeared, and grinned, while Jonas Pike whistled tunelessly… for the image was a map of the Orb Union.

Specifically, it showed Izanagi Island, location of Orb's Parliament Building… and the local headquarters -and, effectively, planetary nerve center- of the nonaligned counterterrorism unit known as Section Nine.

* * *

Morgenröte Harbor Facility, Recreation Section, Pool

* * *

Considering the number of military personnel -especially foreign military personnel- who had ended up at Morgenröte's original facilities during the Bloody Valentine War, most of them in situations requiring them to maintain a very low profile, it was, perhaps, inevitable that the newly-constructed facility, built after the War, would include sections specifically intended for such low-profile soldiers. If they were going to be present in the first place, and therefore supported by Very Important People within Orb's government, it only made sense to also include recreational facilities for them.

_Minerva_'s personnel had gratefully made use of them since arriving in the country; though some of them -such as Shinn Asuka- had made brief sojourns into the country proper, most of them felt far more at ease within Morgenröte, a place populated by people whop actually understood them… and did not hold with the government's ideas about what was best for the nation.

Thus it was that Ken, having gratefully shed the gasmask he wore as "the Major", strode into the room with Morgenröte's Olympic-sized pool, trench coat fluttering behind him, to find a certain person… though what he actually found was a bit more than he'd expected.

The first person the ace spotted was Shinn, standing near the pool's edge in uniform, though with his coat folded neatly on a nearby chair. A couple of meters away was Rey Za Burrel, still in full uniform, looking at the pool with his usual air of detachment; and to Shinn's immediate left was Lunamaria Hawke, also minus red coat, staring -like Shinn- at the figure in the pool itself.

Ken opened his mouth, started to speak, and then shut it again, as his eye was caught by what the three ZAFT pilots were looking at. Floating in the pool was the woman he'd come to find: Millenia Crescent herself, swimming like she'd been born to it.

Except for the small matter that she was in the deep end, underwater… and had apparently been so for some time, judging from the looks on Shinn and Luna's faces.

_Showoff,_ Ken thought to himself, mildly amused. _Not very discrete, if you're trying to keep your true nature hidden, amigo… but on the other hand, if you're trying to appear as mysterious as possible, that's not a bad way to do it._

"Shouldn't she have come up for air by now?" Luna whispered to Shinn, eyes wide. "Even a Coordinator only has so much lung capacity, after all; how long _can_ she stay under?"

"Beats me," Shinn replied softly, with a perplexed shrug. "Maybe she's got an unusual gene makeup…?"

"Well," Ken called, announcing his presence at last, "I'd wondered, Millenia, if you could still swim with that body, but I guess there's no need to ask that question after all, is there? Since you're doing a pretty good imitation of a barracuda right now."

Millenia grinned at him from underwater, then finally brought her head above the surface again. "Thought I had too high a muscle-to-mass ratio, did you?" she said, amused. "Let me guess: you figured I didn't have enough excess body fat to even float, right?"

"It crossed my mind," the ace acknowledged with a nod. Of course, they weren't truly speaking of muscles, but rather the small matter that Millenia's new body was mostly composed of synthetics, with a decided trend toward negative buoyancy. He'd suspected she had some kind of system to compensate, but he wasn't certain… and he _did_ know that, eventually, her body would run out of the stored oxygen required for her still-organic brain, at which point even she would have to surface. It would take far longer than for any normal Coordinator, but it _would_ happen; and if her buoyancy devices failed in anything deeper than the pool, she'd be in very, very serious trouble.

"Well," she told him now, still smiling, "there's more to me than meets the eye, you know. I've got some… built-in advantages, you might say."

Shinn and Luna exchanged a blank look, puzzled by the exchange. "D'you think everyone connected to the Grimaldi Falcon speaks in riddles?" Luna whispered.

He shrugged. "Not everybody; the Chief Representative probably couldn't be subtle if she took a course. But the Commander… well, she _was_ one of his protégés, so I guess it figures they'd understand each other pretty well… even if I have no idea what they're talking about."

Though he found it undeniably puzzling, Shinn wasn't actually too concerned. He'd read up on all the material he could find detailing the Grimaldi Falcon's wartime career, and realized long since that subtlety and manipulation had long been his hallmark, a fact which clearly contributed to his success on the battlefield. Shinn's own opinion of Ken's manner here was that he -and, for that matter, Millenia- was simply keeping in practice, making certain that his skills were ready should he find himself needing them once again.

"Well," Millenia said at length, "did you come here to watch me swim, or has something come up, Sensei?"

All banter vanished from Ken's face in an instant, as the imperatives of the military man took hold once more. "As a matter of fact, something has," he said gravely. "Something serious, in fact… very serious." He jerked his head toward the door. "I contacted Captain Gladys on my way here; Cagalli and Kira are summoning the requisite people on our end. We're going to be holding a meeting in a few minutes… one with grave import to us all."

She nodded slowly. "A 'council of war'?" she said softly.

"Essentially," Ken confirmed, absently rubbing his eyepatch. "The political situation… well, let's just say that we think it's time to begin planning for possible worst-case scenarios. Toward that end, we'd like you and Shinn in on the meeting."

Millenia nodded again. "I'll be there in five," she promised. "Just let me change into my uniform, and I'll be right with you." Hauling herself out of the water, she padded quietly toward the exit, smiling briefly at Ken on her way by.

Ken shook his head. _Well, at least _some_ things haven't changed,_ he thought to himself, unsure as to whether he was amused or not.

Shinn, however, was not at all unsure of one thing: he was unsure of what was going on… or more precisely, how it pertained to him, personally. "Uh, Major? Why include me in the meeting, Sir? Commander Crescent I can understand, but…"

"Let's just say you remind me of someone I once knew," the ace told him, folding his arms thoughtfully. "Someone from a long time ago… And, of course, you're _Minerva_'s number-two pilot, flying her only other 'G-type' mobile suit. That puts you in a special category… and you could also learn something from it."

Before Shinn could think of anything to say in response, the former leader of the Gray Demons turned, trench coat fluttering behind him, and departed, boots clomping quietly on the tile floor with each measured step.

Shinn and Luna glanced at each other, bemused. "Do you think _anybody_ really understands that guy?" Luna wondered aloud. "The way he talks… even the way he _acts,_ it just isn't _like_ other people, you know? Does he have ice water running in his veins or something?"

"According to rumors from the First War," Rey said quietly, walking toward the exit himself, "the Major is the product of some kind of experiment himself, dealing with a new kind of genetic manipulation. Some say that was aimed toward producing a superior soldier; if so, when combined with his martial arts training, it would explain a lot…"

"Sometimes I wonder if anybody understands _him,_ either," Shinn said with a sigh, after Rey had vanished. "Even after all the time we've known him, I still don't understand him any better than I did the day I arrived at the Academy."

"Maybe he's a clone of the Major," Luna joked, smiling. "But you know, he may have a point; there's a _lot_ about the Major that _nobody_ knows… like the full truth of his desertion."

The obsidian-haired shrugged, turning away. "That's true," he admitted, "but if you ask me… I think Commander Crescent is even _more_ confusing." Shaking his head, both at the many mysteries that seemed to surround most of those around him and at the strange interest the Major was taking in him, he headed for the door.

_Maybe,_ he thought, as the door slid aside, _I'll finally begin to understand the Major a bit more, once everything begins…_ That _Minerva_ was going to be on the move again fairly soon, Shinn did not doubt; the last he'd heard, repairs were due to be complete within the week, so that would remove the last engineering obstacle to departure. Presumably, he'd learn more details at the upcoming meeting.

After he, too, had left, Luna put a hand to her chin, frowning in thought. "That's weird," she murmured to herself. "Ever since we got to Orb, he's changed… that temper that always used to get him in trouble is actually starting to mellow. Could it be that Shinn is actually… getting over what happened, after all this time?"

That was a question she had a feeling would be plaguing her for the next several months, but somehow she didn't think she'd be disappointed by the final answer. She'd always liked Shinn, despite his… uncertain temper; and for all that she was more ambivalent than he was about the Major, she thought that, just perhaps, she could get over it, if he continued to have this kind of effect on Shinn…

* * *

Morgenröte Harbor Facility, Office

* * *

Captain Talia Gladys was decidedly puzzled, as she stood next to the large window overlooking _Minerva_'s dock. Being called in for a meeting was nothing new, after all the months _Minerva_ had spent in Orb -she'd spent a number of hours in this very office, discussing the ship's repairs with Alex Dino- but the summons for _this_ meeting had been… unusual, to say the least.

_To be sure,_ she thought to herself, _anything the Major has to say is doubtless at least interesting… but he seemed more urgent about it than I would've expected, under the circumstances. So far, we've had few of the problems I'd expected, considering the current political climate… has something changed, since our last meeting?_

Talia had a feeling she'd be getting an answer to that question soon; she also had a feeling she wasn't going to like that answer. Whenever the man the terrorist Sato had dubbed the "Demon Lord" was in a hurry about something, it tended to be bad news…

Her curious musings were cut short when the office's door slid open, admitting Ken DiFalco… and, to her surprise, a bemused-looking Shinn Asuka. "Apologies for the abrupt nature of the request for this meeting, Captain," Ken said courteously, "but I'm afraid I had little choice, under the circumstances."

Talia shrugged. "If it's as important as you're hinting at, Major, it's no trouble at all. May I ask just what the nature of this meeting _is,_ however?"

"I'll explain in a few moments," he replied, and gestured for her to sit. "You may as well get comfortable, Captain; I'd prefer to wait on getting started until the others arrive, and this will take some time even then."

Sliding into the indicated chair, the captain sighed. "Somehow, Major, that doesn't really surprise me. From everything I've heard about you, nothing in a war is ever simple when you're involved, whether it's because you're plotting against someone, or someone is plotting against you…" She shook her head in wry resignation. "Well, can you at least tell me why Shinn is here, considering the high-level strategy meeting you're implying?"

The ace twitched his shoulders in a small shrug. "Call it advanced training," he said simply, motioning for the young pilot to sit as well, "something he wouldn't have gotten at the Academy. Also, he _is_ one of your two G-type pilots. As such, he's undoubtedly going to bear a large part of the burden of defending _Minerva,_ so it's only sensible -and right- that he know exactly what he's up against."

Talia nodded thoughtfully at that. Considering that she asked her pilots -the pilots of Strike Noir and Impulse in particular- to place their lives on the line every time they launched, she had to admit they _did_ deserve to know why, and what they would be expected to face. _Something the Major obviously understands almost too well, considering how the First War went…_

The three of them waited in silence for a few minutes -Ken leaning against the window, arms folded in a pose Kira Yamato would've recognized instantly- until the door slid open once more. Millenia Crescent stepped through it, now dressed smartly in her red uniform, violet hair still glistening with dampness. "Sorry I'm late," she apologized, nodding to her captain (and shooting Ken a brief, indecipherable glance), "but drying off took a little longer than I expected. Of course," she added, glancing around the table, "it looks like we're still the only ones here, so-"

She chopped off mid-sentence, for the door abruptly opened again… this time admitting someone _not_ in any form of ZAFT uniform. Nor, however, was it a civilian outfit, but rather a uniform Talia Gladys had seen on only a tiny handful of people… all of them belonging to one organization, and all of them dangerously competent, in one field or another.

First the dark brown hair, reaching now down to mid-back, registered with Talia, then the uniform itself: gray boots, trousers, and blouse, topped with a silver belt, a silver jacket with gray epaulettes, and silver gloves. On the cuffs were four golden rings, matched by stripes on the shoulder boards on the epaulettes, while the gray cap under the officer's arm had a row of silver oak leaves along the visor's edge.

It was the field uniform of Section Nine, combining unique tailoring with insignia based on that of a military not seen since the Reconstruction War, over sixty years before. It also marked the marigold-eyed woman wearing at as someone of great importance within Section Nine, since, as far as Talia knew, the organization had exactly two officers of that rank… both of whom were accounted for as the commanding officers of _Odin_ and _Asmodeus,_ and both of whom also happened to be male.

_So who…_ Talia's eyes widened in sudden realization. _It couldn't be! …Could it?_

The newcomer's eyebrows went up at the resounding silence provoked by her entrance -even Shinn was looking more than a little nonplused- then she nodded in sudden understanding. "Of course," she said, with an apologetic smile. "The three of you wouldn't know, would you?" She extended a hand to Talia. "I'm Captain Murrue Ramius, commanding officer of the Section Nine Mobile Assault Ship _Archangel."_

Standing, the ZAFT captain shook the proffered hand… though if anything, the revelation was even more bemusing than the mystery that preceded it. "Pleased to meet you, Captain Ramius," Talia said sincerely, "…but I have to admit this comes as something of a surprise. I'd not heard of any female captains within Section Nine… or that the _Archangel_ was considered one of their units. For that matter, I wasn't aware the ship even still existed."

"Well, she does, Captain Gladys," Murrue assured her with a smile. "I'm afraid my fiancé here has never been the most trusting sort, so some of Section Nine's resources don't appear on any official manifest outside of the organization itself."

Millenia chose that moment to stand as well, and saluted _Archangel_'s captain respectfully. "I'm Commander Millenia Crescent, Captain Ramius," she introduced, carefully keeping any trace of uneasiness out of her expression.

In point of fact, she had been quite surprised to hear that _this_ was Ken DiFalco's fiancé. The only resemblance she bore to either of the two women the ace had been linked with previously was a slight similarity between her eye color and Millenia's; in every other regard, Murrue Ramius was a standard distinct unto herself… though to be fair, Millenia had to admit she herself bore little resemblance to Laura Elsman, either.

_In fact,_ she thought to herself,_ the real surprise is her age. There must be eight years between them… but come to think of it, I doubt anyone has accused Falcon of being immature within the last five years. And if they found each other amidst all this…_

Millenia chopped off her thought there. She didn't really care to venture where her thoughts were taking her now…

"Pleased to meet you, Commander," Murrue said courteously, returning the salute, unaware of the other woman's inner uncertainty. "Ken's mentioned you before; he speaks highly of your skills, both in a mobile suit and with a sword."

Millenia shrugged, smiling faintly (the smile coming more naturally than she had expected it to). "Hard not to be good," she opined, "with Falcon teaching you. Being taught by the best tends to bring out the best in other people."

"That's been my observation, too," the older woman agreed, and moved toward the table. "So, Ken, who are we still missing?"

"Kira, Cagalli, and Andy," Ken replied promptly, still leaning against the window. "I thought we'd keep this meeting small; plenty of time for the details later, after we've got the important things hashed out."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Makes sense," she agreed. "Well, I don't expect them to be long; from what little Kira told me when he called, things have gotten pretty serious, and it wouldn't be like any of them to dawdle when the stakes are so high."

Murrue took little notice of Ken's motionlessness, even after her entrance; she knew that, however demonstrative he might be under other circumstances, he was all business when it came to a meeting of such importance. When something this grave came up, the strategist reasserted itself within him; it was something she'd gotten used to long before they got engaged, and so took little notice of now.

It wasn't long before the door opened one more time, this time admitting Kira, Cagalli, and a man whose presence came as another surprise to Talia… while conversely, Shinn had been fully expecting to see him. Following behind the two Orb representatives, Andrew Waltfeld walked in, with only a trace of a limp to show that his left leg was a powered prosthetic, replacing the limb he'd lost three years earlier.

And, like Murrue, he wore the gray and silver of Section Nine, though with the broad stripe and single star of a commodore instead of a captain.

"Sorry we're late," Kira apologized, escorting Cagalli to a chair. "Traffic was heavier than we expected on the way here."

"And," Andy added dryly, "it took me a few minutes to convince Aisha this was a preliminary strategy meeting, not some pre-mission briefing that she needed to attend." He chuckled. "I finally had to point out that if the room got _too_ crowded, our CO over there might've done something drastic."

"I don't cut my subordinates up for being in the way, Andy," Ken said with great dignity, "especially when they're subordinates in name only. I merely knock the excess participants unconscious and stack them neatly to one side."

The Desert Tiger grinned… though his amusement was directed more toward the ZAFT officers present. "Sure you would… I'm Commodore Andrew Waltfeld, by the way," he added, nodding to _Minerva_'s people. "One of the Major's strategists, and CO of the Armed Transport _Eternal."_

Millenia whistled tunelessly. "My, my, Falcon, you _have_ been holding back about your actual resources. Last I heard, _Eternal_ hadn't been seen since the War, either." She raised an eyebrow. "Got any other helpful surprises for us?"

"Unfortunately, no," the ace admitted. "That's why Cagalli asked us all here today." He nodded at his friend and wartime partner. "Care to get the ball rolling, now that we're all here?"

She nodded. "Right, Ken." Taking a deep breath, Cagalli stood, and said, "I'm afraid, ladies and gentlemen, that the political situation here in Orb has taken a turn for the worse."

It was not, perhaps, fair to say that anyone present was surprised. Murrue had been kept abreast of the steadily declining situation by Ken, whose dual identity had given him unique access into Orb's governmental affairs; likewise, Andy had been informed by Kira, who had thought it best to keep the canny warrior apprised of such matters.

Nor were any of _Minerva_'s group very surprised by the statement. Shinn, of course, had been prepared to think the worst of Orb from the very start, whereas Millenia and Talia had been keeping a close eye on things themselves, questioning Alex Dino on the matter whenever the opportunity arose.

Nevertheless, it still wasn't a _pleasant_ thing to hear, by any measure.

"May I ask just what _has_ happened, Lady Cagalli?" Talia asked at length.

"Operation Fatman happened," Cagalli replied wearily. "My prime minister has decided that, though the nuclear attack ended in a tactical victory for the PLANTs, it was also a _strategic_ defeat, and so has decided there's no more point in even pretending to consider supporting the PLANTs. One week from today, he says, the vote on the WSTO treaty is going to go through."

The ZAFT captain sighed. "I was afraid of that… And I take it the odds of it being voted down are low, My Lady?"

"More like nonexistent," Cagalli admitted. "And with public opinion as it's been lately, I'd be crucified by the media and the people alike if I refused to sign it. Politically, it isn't an option at all… much as I hate it."

That statement touched off the hitherto silent Shinn, who practically exploded out of his chair. "So you're just going to give in?!" he demanded angrily. "Throw away everything you've preached about, and just-!"

"First of all," she snapped, cutting him off, _"you_ were the one who was complaining about my father _not_ doing that back in the War, remember? And second, I didn't say I was going to sign it, I said the public backlash would be bad if I didn't. _But,"_ she said forcefully, her icy malachite gaze locking with Shinn's fiery crimson, "I _do_ have a third option."

Shinn sat back in his chair abruptly, speculation suddenly replacing the anger in his eyes, and Talia herself blinked. "A third option, My Lady?" she repeated. "What might that option be?"

"To resign my position as Chief Representative," Cagalli said, lifting her chin proudly, "in protest of a treaty whose signing would violate my own integrity, and throw away every principle my father died for, two years ago. To show that I would rather throw all this away than to sign into law a treaty which would make us nothing more than the Atlantic Federation's lapdogs."

Of those present, only Kira appeared completely unsurprised; to Millenia's amusement -tempered though it was by her own shock- even the ever-imperturbable Ken DiFalco's right eye had gone wide, and she was quite certain the left had as well, behind his eyepatch.

Murrue found her voice again first. "…Are you sure about that, Cagalli? Giving up the position entirely…"

"I never wanted it to begin with, Murrue," Cagalli said quietly, "but I did my best anyway, because I believed it was right… and if continuing to do what I believe is right means I have to do this, then I will, without hesitation."

Hearing those words, Shinn leaned back in his chair, mind suddenly uncertain. _An Athha… standing up for her principles so firmly? If she resigns, she gives up every perk of status she has; would she really do that, in defense of principle…?_

"Unfortunately," Cagalli went on, oblivious to -and uninterested in- the young pilot's thoughts, "it does leave us with a problem: the moment Unato has effective control of the government, I have no doubt he'll act against both _Minerva_ and Section Nine. Once he does that…"

"So that's why we're here," Andy realized, nodding slowly.

"Right," Millenia concurred thoughtfully. "To try and figure a way out of this mess, before it kills us all." She glanced briefly at Murrue, then Kira, before her gaze finally settled on Ken. "Just what do we have at our disposal, anyway? Is it enough to offset Orb's advantage, as the 'home team'?"

"I don't know," he said honestly. "Section Nine's resources are, alas, limited; engaging an entire country -especially one which happens to be one of our two main sponsors- was never part of the plan. Moreover, much of our budget for the past eighteen months has been diverted to a… special project, which I would prefer not to discuss."

He nodded at Murrue then, who promptly stood. "Our current available resources," she began, walking to a wall display, "are unfortunately limited to what we have in Orb at this moment. Considering that, for all practical purposes, that also includes _Minerva,_ we're actually somewhat better off than _Archangel_ was three years ago, during our long journey from Heliopolis to JOSHUA. Conversely, however, our opposition is more technologically advanced than anything we fought then, and -considering that this is actual Orb territory- they're also more numerous than anything we had to fight at any given time. With that in mind, our limitation to just three ships is going to hamper us by a potentially significant degree."

"Wait a minute," Shinn protested, frowning. "Only three? What _Asmodeus?_ Or _Eternal,_ if that's still around too?"

Andy shook his head. "Practicalities, kid. _Eternal_ isn't even atmosphere-capable… not to mention that her crew's scattered all over the place right now. _Asmodeus_ is pretty much out of the question, too: with all that's been happening in space lately, it'd be too risky to leave S9 HQ uncovered. Also, this isn't like _Archangel_'s descent to Earth in the War. That was in the middle of the Libyan desert, where the only hostile forces for hundreds of kilometers around were my land battleships, none of which had the reach to hit her on her way down, even if we'd known to expect her. Which, I might add, we didn't."

Talia nodded thoughtfully. "I see what you mean. Were _Asmodeus_ to attempt an orbital descent into Orb right now, she'd probably be shot down before she could even think about defensive maneuvers." She sighed. "So, that leaves us with just _Minerva, Odin,_ and _Archangel,_ right? Well, I suppose it can't be _that_ bad…"

"It could be worse," Kira put in with a nod. "Fact is, we're pretty confident we can at least get the ships into open waters, and deal with any Orb ships that try to give chase… even if it means we have to destroy them ourselves." He didn't look happy at the admission, but he did so without hesitation. One thing the War _had_ taught him was that sometimes, it really _was_ necessary to fight to the end. "The problem," he went on, "is getting out into the water in the first place. Until we get moving, _Minerva_ and _Odin_ are going to be pretty big targets. _Archangel_ will be fine in the initial stage, since Unato doesn't even know she's still around, let alone that Section Nine has a harbor facility of its own out here, but the other two…"

"There's another problem," Millenia interjected, frowning pensively. "Mobile suits."

She didn't need to explain herself beyond that. Everyone in the room knew from personal experience that, however lethal their ships could be against other warships, they were very vulnerable to mobile suit attack. _Archangel_ had been nearly destroyed more than once by mobile suits that had gotten too close for even CIWS to engage… and had also come all too close to losing the bridge to well-aimed fire from pilots just good enough to get into range for a single shot. For that matter, _Minerva_ herself had nearly suffered that particular fate once.

No, none of the soldiers in that room had any illusions about the threat mobile suits posed.

"The biggest threat from Orb's suits is going to be numbers," Ken said pensively, and began to pace in front of the floor to ceiling window overlooking _Minerva._ "We're not quite as short on mobile suits as we are on ships, after all. Currently, we have Preybird, Impulse, Strike Noir, two ZAKUs… and, of course, the Freedom."

Millenia raised an eyebrow. "So, the rumors are true, huh? Orb really _is_ keeping a nuclear-powered machine around?"

"We are," Cagalli acknowledged. "And the entire world knows it. They just don't _do_ anything about it, since even the Atlantic Federation admits Azrael's attack three years ago was… excessive. They're willing to cut us that much slack, at least; not everyone in the Earth Alliance is a monster… not quite, anyway." She looked over at Ken. "Still… don't you have Murasames, too, Ken? I remember Asagi, Juri, and Mayura transferred to Section Nine pretty early on…"

The ace shook his head. "We do have them, yes, but they're up in orbit at the moment; getting certified on the Fiannas, in fact. Besides, even if they _were_ ready to sortie, I couldn't ask them to. Not here; not when there's a good chance they'd have to _kill_ Orb soldiers."

Not even Shinn felt like disputing _that_ statement. His feelings toward Orb were… mixed, at best, but even he wouldn't dream of asking _that_ of someone if it could possibly be avoided.

"So," Talia began, breaking the uncomfortable silence, "that's it, then? Three ships and six mobile suits against an entire nation's worth of warships and mobile suits?"

"Not quite," Ken corrected. "Remember, Dearka came to Earth last month, too, and he brought the Buster with him; under the circumstances, I've a feeling he'll throw in with us. Buster's not the most maneuverable machine around, even after Erica Simmons grafted GAT-X107 Raptor's old flight unit onto it, but it's still a formidable foe… and there's also the chance of another machine turning up."

He didn't elaborate on the final point; and before anyone could question him about it, Murrue quietly cleared her throat. "There you have it, people. Three warships, six -more likely seven- mobile suits, and of course Section Nine's local HQ contingent. That's what we've got at hand… now we have to figure out how best to use those resources, should the worst case scenario occur."

* * *

Equatorial Union, Capital City, Outdoor Café, February 13th, C.E. 74

* * *

"Oh, him?" The brown-haired woman chuckled quietly, thinking back. "Yeah, I know him… used to, anyway."

"So he really was a ZAFT pilot that far back?" the blue-haired youth pressed. "All the way back to the Blockade?"

Another chuckle. "Even farther back than that, actually. He was part of one of the very first graduating classes, back in '69." She leaned back in her chair. "It's going to take a while," she added thoughtfully. "It happened years ago."

The two of them had come to this café, in the capital of a neutral country, for varying reasons. Freelance reporter Jess Rabble sought for the tale of an ace whose exploits had become legendary; he'd once covered the man's disappearance from public view, two years before, and later served on the same side of the Equatorial Union Civil War, but he'd never actually met the man… and now he wanted to know just how the ace had gotten where he had. Or, as he put it, he wanted the true story, instead of the legends.

Natalie Hollis, former second in command of the Lacan team, also wanted the truth to be told… for she, like her old friend and commander Rick Lacan, had hated to see Kenneth DiFalco's name smeared with the accusation of treason. She knew him, understood him, in a way no disinterested observer ever could.

So when Jess Rabble had tracked her down over the global network and asked for an interview, she'd only been too happy too arrange this meeting in the Equatorial Union.

Now, Rabble was waiting patiently as Natalie organized her thoughts. "Did you know," she said at length, "that there are three kinds of aces?"

"No," Rabble replied, somewhat bemused by the apparent non sequitur. "I hadn't heard that; but then I'm a reporter, not a soldier. Why?"

"Well," she said, raising a finger, "there are those who seek strength, those who live for pride… and those who can read the tide of battle." She raised a finger with each point, continuing, "Those are the three. And him? He was… different. From the first day he joined the team, I knew he was something special."

"I hear they call him the 'Demon Lord' now," the reporter remarked.

Natalie smiled, remembering those long ago days. "Demon Lord… Well, I have to say it suits him. Leader of the Gray Demons, and the most exceptional pilot I ever flew with. He was seeking strength when I first met him, the strength to defend the PLANTs; after the Bloody Valentine, he lived for pride, intent on avenging the loss he suffered there…"

"An avenger?" Rabble said, surprised. "That's not what I'd have expected from him. I mean, I've heard the rumors about GENESIS' origin and everything, but…"

"Don't pay attention to the rumors," she said sharply. "Some of them are close to the truth, but none of them get it exactly right; and I didn't say he _still_ lives for pride, did I?" Natalie shook her head. "No… the Demon Lord gave that up when he realized what he'd done. It's been a long time since I saw him, but I know that much. After Endymion… he's the kind who can read the tide of battle; in the end, he was one of the most influential pilots in the entire War, and he was there from start to finish…"

Rabble nodded thoughtfully; one thing he'd already decided, from talking to the retired ZAFT pilot, was the title for his next article: _A Woman of Undying Faith._ She was clearly unyielding in her faith in her old comrade in arms… the friend who'd long since surpassed her in reputation, but remained a fond memory nonetheless.

"So," he said now, "just how did it all begin?"

Natalie smiled again. "Well, I'd like to say it was a cold and snowy day; you know, something dramatic. But the truth is, it was in the eternal night of outer space… and the enemy that day was only a nuisance, compared to the Demon Lord…"

* * *

Orb Union, Izanagi Island, Parliament Building, Chief Representative's Office, February 18th, C.E. 74

* * *

Cagalli Yula Athha sat at her desk, only barely managing to restrain the stream of curses that so desperately wanted to break loose… and not quite managing to conceal the scowl on her face, as she waited for her office door to open.

Behind her, Kira laid a hand on her shoulder. "There wasn't anything you could've done, Cagalli," he said quietly. "We both knew this was coming, didn't we? After everything that happened over the last few months…"

"I know," she said, trying not to sound bitter, "but still… How _could_ they do this? After what happened in the War, you'd think-"

Cagalli cut herself off with a sign, and leaned back in her chair. In point of fact, the latest turn of events _didn't_ surprise her… but it didn't make her very happy, either. In fact, it accomplished just about the exact opposite, as evidenced by her scowl.

The treaty proposal had been put to a vote that morning, just as Unato had said… and the tally had been exactly what Cagalli had feared. The Parliament had not been unanimous in their recognition of the treaty, but it had been near enough: out of the seventy-odd members of Parliament present for the vote, sixty-nine had cast their ballots in favor of joining the World Security Treaty Organization. Now all that remained was for the treaty to be signed by the Chief Representative… and though she could technically refuse, it would be political suicide; a fact of which Unato Ema Seiran was only too well aware.

Kira suddenly drew back to the wall, face turning impassive, and Cagalli's scowl -barely- vanished, as the door swung open. First through it was, of course, the camera crew; Unato had seen to it that this "momentous occasion" would be broadcast worldwide. Cagalli suspected it was partly to rub her nose in it, thereby robbing her position of even more prestige and power, but even more than that he undoubtedly wanted to make sure the Earth Alliance knew without question that Orb was toeing the line, and would not have to be "punished".

Following on the heels of the camera crew was, of course, Unato himself, with his son following a step behind. In his hand, the prime minister carried a piece of paper -undoubtedly the treaty draft- and on his face was a carefully-concealed smile… a smile whose self-satisfied nature managed to leak through anyway, at least to those who knew to look for it.

"Lady Cagalli," Unato said formally, coming to stand in front of the desk, "I present to you the final draft of the World Security Treaty Organization proposal, duly ratified by Parliament, requiring only your signature to be signed into law."

Cagalli took the innocuous-looking sheet of paper, and simply stared at it for several moments. Though aware that she was now on live, worldwide television, she could not at first bring herself to do anything _but_ look at it.

_Here it is,_ she thought bitterly. _The simple piece of paper that will sign away everything my father died for… and everything Orb could achieve to _stop_ what's about to happen. With Section Nine's help, we could join forces with the PLANTs, and end this quickly, without compromising our principles… but instead Unato -and the entire government, curse them- insists on betraying our people again…_

Even now, Cagalli couldn't understand how it had come to this. Orb had been struck with over a dozen nuclear weapons during Azrael's fit of vengeance; that terrible event had only occurred after the Earth Alliance had placed outrageous demands on Orb, demands which would've left the Orb people in even worse straits, in some ways, than those which they'd found themselves in upon evacuating Orb.

_And yet Unato managed to effortlessly turn them toward the idea of _allying_ ourselves with them… How can they _possibly_ be so _stupid?!_ So many people died for the freedom we've enjoyed since the War, and now they're just going to through it away._

_Unless…_

Abruptly, and to Unato's surprise, Cagalli came to her feet, still holding the treaty proposal. "Prime Minister Seiran," she said, in coldly formal tones, "you are asking me to sign a 'treaty' which would accomplish nothing more and nothing less than putting us under the dominion of the Earth Alliance, as little more than vassals… if that. You are asking me to sign into law a proposal which throws away every single gain Uzumi Nara Athha and Lance Cooper fought for, and yes, _died_ for." She looked directly into the camera now, a wild feeling of exhilaration warring with her anger as she finally let it all out on worldwide television. "You're asking me to betray my people for a treaty that is fully as unjust as Muruta Azrael's demands in the Bloody Valentine War… as unjust as the quotas placed upon the PLANTs in the years leading up to the War itself!"

Eyes wide with shock, Unato raised a hand. "Lady Cagalli-!" he began sharply, only to be cut off by Cagalli's implacable anger.

"No, Prime Minister Seiran, I will _not_ sign this into law. I realize you will undoubtedly find a way to enact it anyway, but you'll do it without any shred of legitimacy _my_ presence might give it." Lifting her chin proudly, her malachite gaze burned into the camera lens. "As of this moment, I, Cagalli Yula Athha, daughter of Uzumi Nara Athha, resign my position as Chief Representative!"

And with that proud statement, Cagalli Yula Athha held the treaty proposal before the camera, and tore it in half.

* * *

Morgenröte Harbor Facility, Main Recreation Room

* * *

Watching Cagalli tear the treaty proposal in half on a live broadcast, with utter disbelief etched into the face of Unato in the background. Millenia discreetly looked around the room to see the flurry of activity the former Chief Representative had caused, she was laughing her head off internally.

Nodding silently to Shinn, who was talking to Luna and Rey about what they had witnessed, the mysterious mobile suit commander made her way out of the room and back towards the _Minerva_. She had a lot of preparations to do, and so little time to do it. But one thing was sure to her: it was always time for war.

"Well played…" Millenia said softly as she walked out of the room.

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

In the wake of the disastrous nuclear attack on the PLANTs, the Earth Alliance draws back, abandoning the offensive and surrendering the initiative as they regroup, and attempt to rebuild their forces. In the wake of the revelation of the Neutron Stampeder, their traditional battle tactic has been rendered worse than useless, so they now seek a new alternative… and turn their attention to the surface of their own world, in hopes of securing an advantage in the heretofore neutral nation of Orb…

Meanwhile, in anticipation of betrayal, Ken DiFalco, Murrue Ramius, and Talia Gladys begin making contingency plans… but remain ignorant of the greatest danger to them even now. And now, having been presented with a proposal that would throw away everything she's fought for, Cagalli Yula Athha instead renounces her title, and abandons Unato Ema Seiran to face the inevitable without her…

Okay, yeah, I know this chapter is _extremely_ late. Well, this time it really _isn't_ my fault: some sick bastard hacked my writing computer a few weeks ago -shortly after I updated A Call to Arms- and effectively destroyed it, leaving me without the ability to write for a week. Now, though, I'm back on track, and likely to remain so.

Now, I realize not much happens in this chapter. Unfortunately, every bit of it was necessary setup… and _next_ chapter will be anything _but_ dull. In point of fact, Chapter 12 will feature everything going to hell in a hand basket. So stay tuned. The story is about to jump back into high gear… In the meantime, though, I'd like at least _some_ feedback on this one. -Solid Shark


	12. Chapter 12: Shoot 'Em Up

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

Also, all references to characters and events from the Equatorial Union Civil War are property of Ominae; for further information, see his story "Rebellion"

* * *

Lagrange Point 1, Earth Alliance Forces Mobile Assault Ship _Dominion,_ Hangar, February 24, C.E. 74

* * *

Rear Admiral Sierra Novak was not, by any means, favorably inclined toward Commander Allen C. Hamilton. Given Hamilton's obsession with doing his duty -sometimes against orders, and while spreading the word to every officer unfortunate enough to run into him- she wasn't alone in that. In fact, she suspected just about every officer who had ever crossed his path felt the same way. 

Even she, however, acknowledged the sheer majesty of Hamilton's units, as they came to a rest in _Dominion_'s hangar. The first practical fruits of Project Zeta, other than Neo Roanoke's GAT-X505 Nightwing, they had been developed primarily be engineers who had spent years on the project… but there was no denying Hamilton himself had also contributed to the final design.

_And,_ Novak admitted unwillingly, as the black-and-white, tiger-striped mobile suit settled to the deck, _I have to acknowledge that he's good at his job. Only the very best survived Second Jachin… and _that_ unit wouldn't have been assigned to just anyone._

Her opinion of the second of the three mobile suits was rather lower… but that might've been due to the psychedelic paint job that had been inflicted on it. She'd never before seen a camouflage pattern consisting of orange, black, and neon yellow, and she hoped she never did again. _Not to mention Goldberg's reputation,_ she thought. T_hey gave him a nuke because they figured even _he_ couldn't miss with one of those…_

The third unit was, in Novak's estimation, the most unassuming of the three… and, thus, perhaps the sanest. Despite being equipped with the powerful VSBRs, whose effectiveness had been demonstrated -albeit briefly- at Third Jachin, it was a simple black, trimmed with white. Having examined Jonas Pike's personnel jacket, Novak was cautiously optimistic about the man behind the controls. Cool, unflappable, and an excellent marksman, everything she'd heard indicated that Pike was on the fast track for promotion… assuming he survived the coming operation.

The admiral's musings came to an end a few moments later, when GAT-X508 Zeta's hatch split open, disgorging a man in the black flightsuit of a Project Zeta pilot. Pushing off and swimming down toward the deck with the ease of a man who'd spent much of his time in space, Commander Hamilton was quickly followed by his subordinates, as GAT-X506 Sigma and GAT-X507 Nova also opened up.

Hamilton landed easily in front of Novak, with Pike and Goldberg coming to rest a pace behind and to either side of him. "Rear Admiral Novak," he began formally, and saluted. "Commander Allen Hamilton and party, requesting permission to come aboard."

Novak returned the salute gravely. "Permission granted, Commander; and at ease."

The pilot relaxed. "Thank you, Ma'am. Admiral," he continued, holding up an attaché case in his left hand, "may I speak with you privately? Vice Admiral Taggart sent me with the complete mission briefing for Operation Meteor, and I'd like to go over the high points with you as soon as possible."

She nodded. "Of course, Commander. Captain McKay can handle the bridge for the moment… and I have to admit, I'm eager to see exactly what it is you've brought me." She smiled suddenly. "Aside, of course, from your impressive mobile suits. We'll go to my office."

"Gladly, Admiral."

Somewhat to Novak's surprise, she had meant every word she said. She _did_ find Hamilton's machines impressive… and she -and her ship- had been hovering at L1 for so long that she would've accepted almost any assignment if it meant _doing_ something. She'd been glad, in the end, to have missed out on Operation Fatman, but in the end, the knowledge of her own survival had done little to cure her boredom.

_Or, for that matter, that of my crew, _she thought, as she and Hamilton made their way to the hangar's nearest hatch. _Well, all that should be over soon enough. If scuttlebutt is right about just what Operation Meteor consists of, we're about to be anything _but_ bored…_

* * *

_Dominion, _Admiral Novak's Office

* * *

"So," Novak began, settling into her desk chair, "what's the situation, Commander? I presume things have changed over the past two weeks, if Operation Meteor is finally about to be launched." 

Hamilton nodded, leaning against the bulkhead next to the compartment's main display. "They have, Admiral. In fact, a _lot_ has changed, and in quite a short time. I'm sure you're aware that Chief Representative Athha resigned last week?"

"Considering that it was broadcast throughout the entire Earth Sphere," Novak said dryly, "it would be hard _not_ to know that. I was watching the feed myself; I guess I was curious to know just what kind of character the young Athha really has." She smiled faintly. "I guess now we know, don't we?"

"Now we know," the pilot agreed. "Frankly, I'm impressed; I didn't think a girl of -what, not quite twenty?- would have the courage or the cunning to do something like that, especially in the face of such overwhelming public support for the treaty. And," he admitted, "I actually think she did the right thing."

Novak blinked; it wasn't the sort of thing she'd have expected the ultra-patriotic Hamilton to say. "You do, Commander? I thought you approved of bringing Orb into our camp."

"Oh, I do," Hamilton assured her. "Of course I think it's for the best. Nonetheless, considering Athha's staunch opposition to the treaty -and her… family history with us- I applaud her decision to resign rather than violate her own principles in such a way. It may get her _killed,_ of course -there's no telling where she'll go from here- but it showed a kind of moral courage not many have."

That put a spin on things that Novak had never been contemplated… but when she thought about it, it _did_ make a certain kind of sense. _And I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to hear it from Hamilton,_ she thought. _He's devoted to duty, yes… but that's because of his own principles. Naturally, he'd approve of someone else -even an enemy- sticking to their own principles…_

"Well," Novak said after a moment, "I gather that little incident is what led to our current operation?"

Hamilton nodded. "Right. Now, simply resigning from the Chief Representative's post wouldn't ordinarily have given the Seirans free reign; I'm sure you remember how much influence Uzumi Nara Athha retained after his resignation, three years ago. Unato Ema Seiran, however, has informed us that Athha is so disgusted with her own government that she's actually renounced her own noble title, in addition to her position in the government."

Novak's eyes went wide with surprise. "She's actually abandoned her status as a member of one of the Five Noble Families? That's… that's completely unprecedented!"

"Yes, it is," he agreed. "But then, so is this situation; even three years ago, her father at least had the support of his own government, and the Orb populace. Without that, there really isn't much too hold the new Athha back from saying exactly what she feels… though it _does_ give _us_ an edge."

Novak leaned forward. "This is where we come in, correct?"

Hamilton nodded again. "Right. The thing is, we're fairly certain that not even Section Nine realizes just how closely Unato Seiran is collaborating with us; as far as they know, they only have the locals to deal with. Therefore, they don't have any idea of the consequences of their next actions. They probably figure they can beat off any attempt to arrest them, then make a break for it and get clear of Orb. Therefore…"

"…They won't be expecting _us_ to come after them, as well." The admiral nodded slowly. "So when we come down from orbit…"

"Exactly." Hamilton tapped the controls of the screen next to him, and brought up a schematic showing the orbital path down to Orb. "This is the general plan, Admiral, as developed by Vice Admiral Taggart, with some input from the Seirans. Tomorrow evening, at 1900 local time, an Orb SWAT team is going to enter Section Nine's local HQ, and serve the Major with an arrest warrant. It probably won't work, but that's all right, because the moment they enter S9 HQ, _Dominion_ is slated to drop out of orbit along this orbital path, accompanied by over a dozen four-suit and some single-suit drop pods. They'll open once we're past the initial reentry phase, while my team launches from _Dominion_ and freefalls toward Orb territory… while at the same time, a group of Forbidden Vortexes comes ashore at the suspected location of both the Demon Lord's home and the residence of one Siegel Clyne…"

* * *

Orb Union, DiFalco Residence, Roof, 25th, C.E. 74

* * *

Elbows on the balcony railing, chin resting in her hands, Cagalli Yula Athha sighed, gazing out at the ocean. _Nice view,_ she thought absently. _A lot nicer than anything you could see from the Athha Mansion… I just wish I was seeing it under better circumstances…_

Standing next to the door leading back into the house, Kira Yamato watched her with more than a little concern, a concern only barely kept out of his expression. He'd been proud of her when she made her impassioned speech, and tore up the original draft of the treaty… but he knew the past week had been very difficult for his girlfriend. Resigning from her post -on live, worldwide television, no less- had resulted in quite a stir, and her subsequent renouncement of her noble title had created even more chaos… which had led to the two of them being here.

With Cagalli's abandonment of her title and position, she and Kira had both ended up departing the Athha Mansion, retreating as far from the spotlight as possible. That had led them to the home of their old friend and comrade Ken, who gladly took them in… but the move made the pain of Cagalli's decision even keener.

She knew, intellectually, that there really wasn't anything else she could've done; with Unato Ema Seiran's firm grip on the reins of power and on public opinion, the only recourse she had left was to express her opinion of the treaty proposal in the most dramatic way possible, and so she had. Unfortunately, it hadn't done quite enough, and now the public was more confused than anything else, wondering why the Lioness of Orb was so ready to "abandon" her people.

_If only they _understood! Kira thought wearily. _After everything that happened in the First War, you'd think they wouldn't be so willing to go along with Unato's plot to get us involved with the Earth Alliance, but instead they walked right into it… and won't even believe their own Chief Representative when she says it's a bad idea!_

"We're going to have to leave soon, Kira," Cagalli said softly, breaking into his despairing thoughts. "You know that, right? With the treaty ratified, it's too dangerous for either of us to stay here any longer…"

Kira nodded. With Cagalli out of power, Unato had swiftly ratified the treaty himself… and so made it far too dangerous for any Coordinators -especially high-profile Coordinators like themselves- to remain within the country's borders for long. With Earth Alliance "assistance" offered to Orb's government, it wouldn't be healthy for Coordinators to be there much longer.

"Yeah," he said now, "I know. It's not right -and it's not your fault- but you're right: we have to get out of here soon." He sighed. "I'll talk to Ken at Section Nine tonight. I know he's been thinking about it, too… probably even more than we have."

Cagalli managed a small smile at that. It was true, though, that Ken was very likely in more danger than either of them: after all, he was one of the Earth Alliance's worst enemies, and known to reside in Orb… and Section Nine's "Major" was also high on their hit list. Since they happened to be the same person…

"Yeah," she agreed, "I know what you mean…" Then, turning back to the ocean view, she sighed again. "I just wish… we didn't have to leave like this."

Kira walked to her side, and squeezed her shoulder gently. "I know," he said softly. "I wish we didn't, either… but this isn't the end, Cagalli. When we get out of here, we'll have even ZAFT's support, at least for a while… and when the time comes, we'll be back. We'll take back this country from Unato, and then we can turn our efforts back to the _real_ enemy."

Cagalli pushed away from the railing, choosing to lean now against Kira's chest, instead. "The Earth Alliance," she said, nodding. "So, you don't think we'll be able to just return to our neutral stance, after we retake the government?"

"Do you?" he countered. "The Earth Alliance isn't just going to leave us alone, after we take out their puppet government. Besides… do you really think staying out of it is the _right_ thing to do?"

"…No," she admitted quietly. "No, I guess it isn't… and besides, we both know Ken will continue the fight anyway. Since where he goes, Murrue and the _Archangel _go, I wouldn't want to just abandon them, either…" She leaned back even more, letting Kira's wiry, tough body support more of her weight. "But first things first: we help out _Minerva _for a while, then kick out Unato and put him on trial for treason. Sound good to you?"

Kira chuckled, wrapping his arms around her. "Yeah," he agreed. "That sounds good to me…"

* * *

Orb, Izanagi Island, Parliament Building, Prime Minister's Office

* * *

"Well, Father," Yuna Roma Seiran noted, gazing idly out a window overlooking the city, "that broadcast could've gone better, but it looks like we got what we wanted in the end, anyway." 

Seated behind his desk, Unato Ema Seiran smiled. "Yes, Son, we did. That was quite a stir that naïve girl caused with her overly-idealistic, self-righteous, bombastic rant, but it appears not to have been enough to significantly dent public support for the treaty."

Unato had to admit that, while he'd expected Cagalli's resignation to come soon enough, he had not counted on her doing so on live, worldwide television, and _certainly_ hadn't anticipated that she would rip the treaty draft in half, while uttering some ridiculous speech about Orb's ideals. _As if ideals are going to help us stay alive in this conflict,_ he thought contemptuously. _Athha's ideals proved themselves worse than useless three years ago; certainly I couldn't allow his successor to make the same mistake…_

"It's still something of a pity, though," Yuna mused, oblivious to his father's thoughts. "If we could just have found some way to take Yamato out of the picture, perhaps we could've achieved the same end without arranging to remove her from office…"

Unato raised an eyebrow. "You still fancy her, don't you."

His son shrugged, acknowledging the suggestion with a small smile. "And why not? Coordinator or not, she's still Athha's daughter; as one of royal blood, she'd have made a fine consort for one of our family, don't you think, Father? And certainly it would be far better for her to be with someone of her own stature, instead of that upstart Yamato."

Unato nodded slowly. He knew Yuna had never thought much of Kira Yamato, primarily because of how the pilot's presence denied Yuna any chance with Cagalli. Exactly what his more objective reasons for disapproving of the match stemmed from, Unato wasn't certain; it seemed closely related to the small matter that, until the Bloody Valentine War reached Heliopolis, Yamato had been nothing more than a commoner college student, with nothing resembling noble blood at all.

_Of course, it might also be because Yamato is known to be one of the Demon Lord's protégés,_ Unato thought. _That man has always made him nervous, after all…_

Though he would never admit it to anyone, even himself, the Prime Minister suspected, deep down, that it was because Ken DiFalco was Yuna's exact antithesis: a courageous soldier, more than willing to die in the pursuit of his cause…

"Yes," Unato said now, "that certainly would've been preferable. The public is willing to accept our leadership, after Lady Cagalli so foolishly refused to accept the treaty herself, but I think things would go more smoothly were she still here… Nonetheless, this actually _is_ better for one of our goals: you know as well as I do how… difficult it would be to remove Section Nine's presence if she retained any degree of power at all."

"True enough," Yuna agreed with a sigh. "In that case… I suppose the operation is still going to commence tonight?"

Unato nodded, smiling thinly. "Yes, it is. I've already made some… judicious reassignments, making sure that a certain stretch of coastline is undefended for the evening, and that our people know to expect -and ignore- the orbital drop. And, of course, the SWAT team has been thoroughly briefed about their objective at Section Nine HQ."

Yuna allowed himself a proper smile at last. "Then soon, it'll all be over. One way or another, the Major and DiFalco will soon be out of the picture… But what about _Minerva?"_ he asked abruptly, frowning. "We can't let _that_ go free, either."

"Not a problem," his father assured him. "As soon as the Major's been dealt with, another team will storm _Minerva,_ and plant demolition charges; we don't need to do much just yet, so long as we can prevent them from leaving port. After that… we can deal with them at our leisure." His smile turned cold. "And from then on, Orb will be safe… from everything."

* * *

Section Nine Local Headquarters, Orb Union, The Major's Office

* * *

One thing Kira Yamato noticed almost as soon as he entered Section Nine's local HQ was that the entire building seemed very busy. Having been there many times before since it was first built, he'd long since noticed that there tended to be a lot of activity within -Section Nine frequently had small teams out on minor counterterrorism missions, in addition to constantly analyzing the Earth Alliance's actions- but this… this was different. 

For one thing, every single person he passed was armed with at least a sidearm, right down to the secretaries and analysts… and they were all wearing the slate-gray bodysuits and equipment harnesses Section Nine operatives used in the field, instead of the silver and gray undress uniforms that normally abounded.

_They're taking this_ real _seriously,_ Kira thought to himself, walking quickly toward the Major's office. No one paid him any mind -he was, after all, a frequent guest of their boss- but he still glanced at those around him from time to time, and wondered…

Somehow, he wasn't surprised when the door to the Major's office opened before he even reached it; he'd long been aware of Ken's habit of keeping an eye on things -be it on the _Archangel_ or in his own base- via surveillance systems.

"Come on in, Kira," Ken informed his old friend -and, once, student- and waved the younger pilot into the office. "Been kind a nasty couple of weeks, hasn't it?"

"Very," Kira agreed, walking over to one of the guest chairs. "First Third Jachin, then the whole mess with the WSTO proposal… but you probably know more about that than I do."

"Not much more," the ace disagreed, striding over to his desk chair. "Matter of fact, you probably know more about the domestic side of it than I do, considering Cagalli's role in the affair." He shrugged. "As far as we're concerned, there isn't much more to know about it, so we've turned our attention back to the PLANTs, for the time being."

Kira looked at him curiously. "Something going on up there, too? I hadn't heard about anything…"

Ken rubbed his eyepatch. "Nothing definite," he admitted. "It's just… Well, one of our people up at the PLANTs -one of our mechanics, working with MMI on the Fianna project- did a little information gathering on her own initiative, and came across a cryptic reference to a 'Meer Campbell'."

"Doesn't ring any bells with me. Should it?"

"Probably not," the ace said, with another small shrug. "But I, as it happens, _do_ recognize the name. Meer Campbell's first cousin was Montgomery Campbell… one of the Gray Demons who fell at Endymion."

Kira nodded in sudden understanding. For all that Ken's primary focus was, even now, the defense of the PLANTs, his old team was, in some ways, even closer to his heart than that eternal duty. If something came up regarding the family of one of them, the so-called Demon Lord was bound to track it down, using whatever resources he could possibly spare.

"So, have you found anything interesting?"

"Not yet; just that Meer has apparently caught Durandal's eye somehow." Ken's expression was uncharacteristically puzzled. "Unless he needs a better than average singer for something, though, I haven't the faintest idea what use she could be to him."

It was Kira's turn to shrug; espionage and political analysis had never been his area at all. "Well, Ken, I guess you probably know why I'm here."

The ex-ZAFT commander nodded. "Naturally. Something about the current situation with Cagalli and WSTO, right?"

"Yeah." Kira looked at his mentor seriously. "Ken… we need to get out of here, and soon. It's not gonna be healthy to be a Coordinator in Orb much longer."

Ken sighed. "Yeah… I know. I'm not exactly happy about it -this'll be the _second_ time we've been driven out of Orb, after all- but I acknowledge the necessity. With this 'alliance' with the Earth Forces, Unato isn't going to permit Section Nine's presence much longer, and I expect he'll be none too happy about yours or Cagalli's, either."

"That was what I was thinking," Kira agreed. "I'm just kind of wondering why you haven't left already. I mean, _Archangel_'s been fully repaired for almost two years now, _Minerva_ and _Odin_ are both back in one piece, so…"

"We're not quite ready," the Major said simply. "Sure, all the repairs are complete, but we're still discretely gathering supplies; besides which, we're trying to get _Archangel_'s Murasame combat-ready, and we haven't quite managed that yet."

"I don't think we can afford to wait any longer, Ken," his friend said quietly. "It's already been a week since Cagalli resigned; Unato will be moving before long." He nodded toward the window, overlooking the city. "Ken, look: we've got _Minerva_'s support, and Dearka's going along with us, too; I'm sure Athrun will be, too. So we've got _Minerva_'s units, as well as the Buster and Justice, assuming it's still around. I think that'll make up for not having Andy's Murasame fully online."

Ken sighed again. "Maybe so, Kira, but still-"

_"Major?"_ the desk intercom interrupted. _"I'm sorry to disturb you, Sir, but you have a couple of… visitors. Official visitors."_ The voice on the other end paused. _"Along with a _lot_ more outside the building, if you know what I mean."_

Kira's adrenaline level suddenly spiked. "Does that mean…?" he began.

"Yes," Ken said simply, and looked down at his desk. "Thank you, Lieutenant. You can send them right in." As he spoke, he lifted his trademark gasmask off his desktop, and settled it into place over his face. "Kira," he added, muting the intercom mike, "are you armed?"

The younger man nodded tensely, and tapped the left side of his black jacket. "Seburo M-11," he said quietly. "I've only got one spare magazine, though."

The Major nodded toward a wall cabinet. "Not a problem; that's standard-issue for us, remember? You'll find 11.43mm ammo in there… in a minute."

Kira caught his meaning, and forced himself to simply relax into his chair. _If it comes to shooting,_ he told himself, _it won't be right away._ _Ev__en Un__ato can't get the_ _police to_ _shoot_ _first, without at least_trying_ to resolve things peacefully…_

A few moments later, the office door opened, and two men in police uniform stepped through it. Both wore body armor and helmets, and the second man carried a shotgun along with his sidearm. They also both appeared to mean business, as even the first man had his sidearm in his hand, though pointed at the floor.

"Section Nine Commanding Officer, a.k.a. the Major, correct?" the lead officer asked, polite words not reflected in tone or stance.

Ken nodded. "Correct, Officer," he said calmly. "May I help you?"

"In a manner of speaking," the officer replied coolly. "Major, I'm afraid I must inform you that you're coming with me. You have the right to remain silent… but under the circumstances, Prime Minister Seiran has declared that you do not have the right to an attorney."

"I see," the Major observed, with a calm Kira knew was not as genuine as it seemed. "…And if I refuse to accompany you, Sir?"

"That isn't an option, Major," the second man said, speaking for the first time. "We've been authorized to use lethal force, based on the suspicion that Section Nine members will attempt violence to escape. Moreover, this building is now surrounded by fifty heavily-armed SWAT officers. I submit, Major, that resistance is not only foolish, but futile."

Kira tensed then, and was suddenly glad the officers hadn't taken much notice of him yet. _If I know Ken,_ he thought, hand edging toward the pistol holstered under his jacket, _things are just about to get really interesting. Right about-_

"Very kind of you to warn me, Officers," Ken said calmly. "But, unfortunately, I'm afraid that I cannot comply with your instructions."

"That is unfortunate, Major," the lead officer told him, smiling faintly, and started to raise his pistol… an action that resulted in a wince from Kira, knowing in that split second what was about to happen.

Before the pistol could come up any higher than the center of the Major's desk, Ken catapulted out of his chair, leaping over clear over the desk, and his hand darted into his trench coat… wherein it grasped a twine-wrapped, crimson hilt.

The officer barely had time to gasp, stunned by the sheer speed shown by the soldier, before the incredibly keen edge of Griever came down on his wrist, slicing his hand clean off in a spray of blood. Then, before he could even scream, Ken's wrists twisted, and Griever's arc reversed, coming up through the officer's shoulder, before another twist of his wrists swept it through the man's neck.

In the time it took Ken to kill the first man, the second officer was just barely able to begin to take in what occurred… and react to it. _No way,_ he thought, snapping up his shotgun, as his partner's head and arm fell away. _That's… that's the Demon Lord! He was the Major all along! And that means, I have to warn-!_

An instant before Ken could thrust Griever toward him, the officer pulled the trigger on his shotgun, sending out a cloud of buckshot that caught Ken in the chest blasting him backwards. The ace slammed into his desk, then fell forward, slumping on the floor; the officer took that moment to pump another shell into the chamber, took aim-

-Only to have two of his front teeth blown away, along with a spray of blood and less identifiable bits, as an 11.43 millimeter bullet caught him in the back of the head.

Kira Yamato lowered his pistol, took a deep, shuddering breath, and watched as the corpse fell to the floor. _At least I remembered to take the safety off this time,_ he thought, in a distant sort of way. _Not like Mendel…_

Shaking off the flashback to that horrifying place, he walked quickly to where his friend had fallen. "You okay, Ken?" he asked, extending his hand.

Ken grasped it gratefully, and let Kira haul him back to his feet. "…Yeah," he said with a cough. "Yeah, I'm fine; I've got body armor on under my shirt." Glancing down at the pair of headless corpses, he shook his head. "I was actually more worried about the guy with the pistol; he could've broken a couple ribs if he'd hit me wrong. The idiot with the shotgun was just an annoyance. Those buckshot pellets disperse too much to worry a flak vest."

"Still, we can't relax now," Kira reminded him. "There's a bunch more outside, and I think they'll be coming in soon; besides, this means they're about to make their move everywhere else, too. We need to get the warning out."

The ace nodded. "I know. Just a moment." Crossing quickly to his desk, he thumbed the intercom back on. "Attention, all personnel," he called, "this is the Major. We are currently under siege by Orb SWAT officers, and I believe more will be entering the building within moments. I also have reason to believe Morgenröte's facilities will also come under attack shortly. Therefore, I am hereby declaring Case Zulu. Repeat, Zulu, Zulu, Zulu. All personnel, break through the siege by any means necessary, and retreat to S9 harbor at once. I repeat, all personnel use whatever means necessary to escape the building, and retreat to S9 harbor. In fifteen minutes, I am enacting Omega Contingency."

Outside the office, Kira could hear a sudden flurry of activity… as well as several gunshots, as the entire population of Section Nine's planetary headquarters burst into action, while SWAT officers also broke into the building. _Here it goes,_ he thought sadly, and crossed to the weapons locker Ken had pointed out earlier. _This time, even Orb is our enemy… and we have to kill in order to get free._

Even as Kira dug into the locker, Ken reached into his desk, pulled out a small headset, and put it over his right ear. "Batou, do you read me?"

_"Loud and clear, Boss,"_ his big, no-nonsense subordinate replied. _"I'm kinda busy right now; give me a sec."_ A loud _boom _came over the speaker, followed by a muted grunt of pain, and then Batou's voice came back on. _"Okay, I'm clear. What's the deal, Boss?"_

"I need you and Boma to clear a path out the south exit," Ken responded crisply, slipping Griever back into her scabbard. "Too many of our people are analysts, not properly trained in this kind of work. Help them get out of here, and double-time it to the _Archangel."_

_"On it, Boss,"_ Batou acknowledged readily. During their first mission together, in the Equatorial Union Civil War, he'd been more than a little skeptical of the so-called "Major"; that had been burned out of him that day, though, after seeing his young CO charge a sniper's position, and bring the enemy down… before recruiting him in a bizarre turnabout. _"What about you? And this place, for that matter? We don't have time to dump the database."_

"I know. I'll make my way out as soon as I can, with Kira; after that, I'm initiating Omega Contingency."

There was the briefest of pauses on the other end, before Batou answered curtly, _"Got it, Boss. Good luck."_ He cut the connection with almost jarring suddenness.

Kira, having just pulled out a Seburo C-26A Personal Defense Weapon, glanced at Ken in confusion. "'Omega Contingency'?" he repeated. "What's that?"

Ken walked over to him, and pulled out a PDW of his own. "I was the primary architect of this building, Kira," he answered obliquely, quickly slapping a magazine into the weapon. "Located at strategic structural points throughout the building are explosives hidden behind the walls. Omega Contingency means we set them all off."

The younger pilot's eyes went wide, picturing the level of destruction involved. "That means… what, a fireball with around three hundred meters of blast damage in all directions?"

"Right," the ace confirmed, and darted to the door. "I figured this might happen someday, so I made sure we stationed ourselves a certain distance from any civilian structures. This way, we can blow the house down and cover our tracks, without too much collateral damage."

"You're pretty thorough," Kira told him, shaking his head, and joined his friend at the door. "What now?"

"Not thorough enough," Ken grunted. "I didn't expect something_ this_ brazen… As to what now, I need access to an external communications line. Our primary hardlines are cut, and I have a sneaking suspicion N-jammers are in place to prevent us from radioing Morgenröte from here. Now, there's a secondary hardline, one which I'm fairly certain Unato is not aware of, but we can't access it from here. We need to reach either the Situation Room, or Communications Central. To do that…"

"…We have to fight our way through a hundred SWAT." Kira grimaced. "I can't wait to get back into the air. I don't like fighting at the best of times, but like _this…"_

"Tell me about it," the ace muttered, forcing down the violent nausea that always afflicted him after killing in single combat. "Okay, on three. One… two… three!"

Whirling as one, Kira and Ken charged out the door, into the waiting gunfire…

* * *

Orb Union, DiFalco Residence, Living Room

* * *

"What a mess," Murrue Ramius murmured, watching the latest news broadcast regarding the WSTO agreement. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped, unfortunately…" 

She sighed. Two and a half years it had been, since last she'd been involved in war herself. During that time, she and her fiancé had basically relaxed, allowing themselves to finally rest after their long stint at the sharp end of the stick; after long years of war, they'd both needed that respite more than anything else.

That time had been good to them both; the once gloomy and cold Ken had become simply reserved, as he gained distance from his past and threw himself into the effort of rebuilding Orb. Murrue herself had finally been able to set aside the burden of her own responsibilities, as captain of the _Archangel._ At long last, they could recover from the crushing fatigue of the long War…

Only now, it appeared their rest was about to disappear. Unato was singing the praises of Orb's new alliance with the Earth Forces, aided by the media and even cheering crowds… all of whom, in Murrue's opinion, had lost some of their grip on reality.

_And that's why we have to leave,_ she thought sadly. _In order to save Orb, we're going to have to leave it… and then do what? I suppose Ken and Cagalli already have some idea of that; either way, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it…_

Murrue was about to rise to her feet and turn off the television, but at that moment Cagalli burst into the room. "Murrue," she said breathlessly, a tense look in her eyes, "something's wrong."

The older woman turned quickly to face her. "What is it, Cagalli?" She knew that, impulsive though Cagalli could sometimes be, there wasn't much that could make her as nervous as she clearly was now, outside of something either very serious or very puzzling… or both.

Cagalli jerked her head toward Ken's home office, where the direct hardline link to Section Nine HQ was located. "I just tried to call Kira at S9 HQ," she said tautly. "I didn't get anything at all. Murrue, I think the hardline's been cut!"

Murrue tensed. "Then that means…" Suddenly, she was in motion, heading for another part of the house. "It's begun sooner than Ken counted on, then," she said briskly, and paused beside a locked door. "That must mean Unato's already made his move," she added, tapping at the keypad next to the door, "so now we have to make ours."

The door swung open as it registered the correct password, and the two women stepped into the concealed armory Ken had insisted upon when they first settled in Orb. At the time, Murrue had thought it mostly paranoia, but now she blessed his foresight… and her own, for not arguing with him.

Not being trained in genuine ground operations, Murrue regretfully passed up some of the heavier weaponry, instead choosing a Section Nine-standard M-11. Cagalli, on the other hand,_ had_ spent a fair amount of time in ground combat, with the African Desert Dawn group, and shouldered a C-26A instead, after checking its action and magazine with practiced haste.

Footsteps behind them announced the presence of their two guests, who had heard some of the commotion. "What's going on?" Dearka Elsman demanded, stepping into the room. "Are we under attack or something?"

"Not presently," Murrue informed him, shaking her head, "but that may change at any moment. Here, Miriallia," she added, reaching past the ZAFT pilot to hand his girlfriend another M-11. "I know you're more comfortable with a camera than with a gun, but we can't afford to take chances just now."

Miriallia Haw took the weapon with some hesitance; it had been some time since last even touched a gun, and she'd used them very little even during the War. "Thanks, Murrue. But… what _is_ going on?"

"Hardlines to S9 HQ are down," Cagalli told her, strapping on a sidearm herself. "One of them, I might put down to technical difficulties, but the secondary and both tertiary lines are down, too; that means Unato's decided he's waited long enough."

Dearka swore viciously, and snatched up a C-26A himself. "Which means they might be coming _here_ soon enough, too," he said in disgust. "They don't know Falcon and the Major are the same person, but I don't think Seiran will pass up the chance to get rid of the 'Grimaldi Falcon' while he's at it."

"Probably not," Murrue agreed. "Which is why we're going to head to _Archangel_ for now; there's a tunnel underneath Reverend Malchio's orphanage leading to the S9 harbor facility… and I think Athrun may have Justice down there, as well."

"What about Ken?" Mir demanded. "Are we just going to-?"

"My partner can handle himself," Cagalli told her, and stepped back out into the hallway. "He and Kira are together right now, and they're both competent shooters… even if Ken doesn't like guns much. Besides, _they _might not be in their element right now, but Ken hired more than a few ex-Special Forces soldiers when he formed Section Nine."

"Yeah," Dearka agreed. "Besides, I remember how he was during the Equatorial Union mess; scuttlebutt says he was involved in something nasty back there -might explain why he came back with that sniper, Saito- and came out without a scratch." He jerked his head at the wall, indicating the other house beyond it. "Look, we'd better warn Athrun and Lacus; they need to get out of there, and so do Commander Le Creuset and Siegel. The Reverend should be fine, but-"

The distinctive sound of a door-breaching shaped-charge explosive cut off whatever he was about to say.

* * *

Orb Union, Clyne Residence/Reverend Malchio's Orphanage, Library

* * *

"I don't like this," Rau Le Creuset said quietly, frowning down at his steepled fingers. "It's been a week now; Unato Seiran ought to have tried _something_ by now. It isn't like that man to just leave an organization like Section Nine alone, not when he has the power to _do_ something about it…" 

"I can't say I'm all that happy about it, either," Athrun Zala admitted, standing near a window. "I've been in Orb for over two years now, and I've never known Unato to be this… hesitant." He shrugged. "I'm guessing that's what Kira went to talk to Falcon about."

"Probably so," his former commander agreed. "He's not quite in Falcon's league -few people are- but Kira Yamato is a very perceptive individual; I should know, since he very nearly killed me at Second Jachin." He smiled faintly. "In fact, I rather suspect that he _would_ have killed me, had Falcon not reappeared, and chosen to take over."

Athrun nodded silently, remembering that chaotic battle. He himself had engaged Rau, and nearly killed them both by causing his own nuclear reactor to meltdown; and though he'd been nowhere near when the final confrontation occurred, he _had_ seen part of Kira's fierce duel with Ken, as well as battle records of that final encounter.

_No wonder people call Kira the best,_ he thought, with a small smile. _Not many people can hold off the Grimaldi Falcon -or Demon Lord, I guess- for fifteen minutes, then head off and nearly kill Rau Le Creuset, all without even taking a breather…_

"Of course," Rau murmured, almost inaudibly, "Unato Seiran is, in the final analysis, a relatively minor issue. He can cause us a great deal of trouble so long as we remain in Orb, but after that… I believe our greatest problem is Gil."

Athrun looked at him sharply. "You really think Chairman Durandal is an even bigger threat than the Earth Alliance?"

"The Earth Alliance's strength is in its power, Athrun," Rau told him. "They are a sleeping giant which is beginning to awaken again, and there's no doubt that they'll be a genuine problem; militarily, in fact, they may very well be a greater threat than Gil. On the other hand, the Earth Alliance is primarily controlled by Logos, and while people like Lord Djibril and the various admirals they've co-opted are devious themselves, I assure you that Gil is on a completely different level from them. He's a Grandmaster-rank chess player -in case you're wondering, Falcon is only International Master-rank- and probably the most intelligent and manipulative man I've ever met."

The blue-haired pilot winced. "Considering the shell game Falcon played during the War, that doesn't sound good. And you really think he's up to no good?"

"I'm absolutely certain of it," the older man said firmly. "I don't remember very much yet, but I do recall that he and I were in disagreement over some scheme he had… one which I opposed because my own thought was that the destruction of humanity was the only answer, while he sought to _change_ humanity."

"Trying to change humanity…" Athrun whispered. "I'm… not sure I like the sound of that, Commander. People who have tried to change all of mankind in the past tended to…"

"Take things too far," Rau agreed, nodding. "Or go about it in a fashion that's logical _only _to them. Falcon could probably give you a more in-depth explanation than I, but I know enough to believe you're correct. In fact-"

"Wait."

He blinked, taken aback by the sudden interruption, but changed his mind about protesting when he saw the intent look on Athrun's face. Frowning deeply, the youth had pressed himself against the wall next to the window, and now gazed out carefully. _There's something out there,_ he thought, as his trained instincts began to scream at him.

"What is it?" Rau asked him, voice almost inaudible.

"Not sure," Athrun murmured back. "A change in the air, quiet footsteps, I don't know, but _somebody _is out there… And I can faintly hear some kind of-"

With a deep _boom,_ the front door blasted inwards.

* * *

Outside Clyne Residence/Reverend Malchio's Orphanage

* * *

A head, still dripping from the long swim, poked up briefly over a hedge, and then a hand gestured, clearly signaling "all clear". 

Quiet footsteps, all but silent from the muffling effects of their boots, trotted up to the first man's side, and soon there were a dozen black-clad shapes lying low behind the hedgerow… all of them heavily armed, with full nightvision gear.

Earth Forces Special Ops Major Scott Johnson carefully turned to his team, once they were all assembled. "All right, people," he said, voice audible only over their free-flow communications link. "Remember the briefing: we go in, we assassinate Clyne and Ramius, then bug out and let the 707Es come in and finish DiFalco. If he's got any kind of mobile suit support, we can't handle him ourselves, so we just do our job and get out, got it?"

"Understood, Major," his second in command acknowledged, quickly echoed by the other assassins.

"Then let's go." Raising himself into a crouch, Johnson jumped carefully over the hedge, keeping as low as he could, then crouch-ran toward the large house where intel had said their first targets were. Followed swiftly by his team, he prepared himself for the task ahead of him.

Exactly where the intelligence revealing the location of both Siegel Clyne and Ken DiFalco's locations had come from, Johnson didn't know; he did, however, suspect that it had had something to do with one Unato Ema Seiran… not that he intended to ask. That sort of discretion was part of the reason his team had gotten this assignment: their superiors knew they'd do the job without asking unnecessary questions.

The rest of the reason was that they were brutally competent, well known for completing even the most difficult assignments. An assassination mission was one they were no strangers to.

Pausing at one corner of the house, Johnson took a moment to reconnoiter, comparing the estate to the briefing images. As he'd been told, the Clyne and DiFalco homes were on the same piece of land… and, as he'd also been told, there were a number of small heat signatures within the larger building.

_Orphans,_ he thought grimly. _The kids that reverend takes care of… and the one part of this mission that has me worried._

Coming to a decision, Johnson keyed his mike again. "Understand something, boys: I want to keep the kids out of this if at all possible. Doesn't matter if they see is in the act; the important thing is completing the mission, not being shadows. I don't want a massacre if we can possibly avoid it."

There was no argument; his people considered themselves soldiers, not murderers. Siegel Clyne was a legitimate target in their eyes, as he was a former politician of great importance in the PLANTs; similarly, DiFalco and his fiancé were both soldiers, and ones who were entirely too likely to end up fighting against the Earth Forces in the near future.

Children, on the other hand… No. No member of _his_ team would have any part in that.

Ground rules established, Johnson jerked his head toward the front door, and his demolitions expert scurried forward, carrying the shaped charge meant for this very purpose. Covered by two men with Seburo C-26A submachine guns, he knelt at the door, out of line of sight of any window, and carefully set the charge against the door.

More advanced than any twentieth-century explosive of the type, the charge instantly attached itself to the door, its fast-acting adhesive practically fusing it to the wood; nothing short of removing the entire chunk of the door would remove it now, without the proper solvent.

Explosive in place, the demo expert quickly backed off, joining his fellows at the corner wall. "All set, Major," he whispered.

Johnson nodded. "Then blow it."

"Roger that." The demo man raised his left wrist, and placed his right index finger lightly against the button there. "Fire in the hole." He pushed the button.

The door, along with a good chunk of the surrounding wall, ceased to exist. Vomiting flame and smoke, the shaped charge warhead blasted the entryway to tiny pieces, instantly setting off what sounded like both smoke _and_ burglar alarms… as well as undoubtedly waking even the heaviest sleepers in the house.

That alertness, though, had been planned for, and Johnson knew all about the advantages of surprise. "Move!" he ordered, and took to his own feet, leading the way through the smoke-filled doorway, C-26A at the ready…

* * *

Section Nine Local Headquarters, Orb Union

* * *

Pandemonium had erupted throughout Section Nine's planetary headquarters, as nearly a hundred SWAT officers -all of them operating under direct orders from Unato Ema Seiran- had charged in, no longer interested in taking surrenders. They had heard over their tactical radio links as the first two officers died, and now they were out for blood. 

Bullets cracked back and forth between the two sides, as the numerically inferior but better armed -and, by and large, smarter- Section Nine troops traded fire with Orb police; here and there, a scream or grunt of pain was heard, as bullets found their marks. Visibility was nearly nil for both sides by this time. Only thermal detection goggles allowed anyone to see at all, through the haze created by smoke grenades from both sides.

Toward one end of the first floor, a bulky man with ash-blonde hair drawn back in a ponytail crouched behind an overturned desk, a C-26A held easily in his massive hands. "This is bad!" he shouted to his companion over the noise of battle. "We need to make a break for the south exit before they try any really bright ideas!"

Pausing to hurl another smoke grenade over the desk, the bald trooper grunted back, "I know! But with all this smoke, getting twenty half-trained analysts past a hundred SWAT isn't gonna be easy!" Boma started to pop up to fire a burst from his own submachine gun, then reconsidered, and snatched another grenade from his belt. "I guess we can forget about collateral damage!" he told Batou, then pulled the pin and hurled the explosive toward the largest concentration of SWAT that he could see.

They didn't stay concentrated for long; an instant after the bomb landed, somebody screamed, _"Grenade!"_ and SWAT scattered in all directions. One promptly went down anyway, as a 5.45mm bullet blew out the back of his skull.

Two more died precisely three seconds later, when the grenade went off. Vanishing in a small ball of flame, the shrapnel from the grenade's casing simply shredded two SWAT, splattering them over the nearest wall.

"Nice one," Batou said, with a grim smile, and rolled out from behind cover. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction of the grenade, he held the C-26 to his shoulder, aimed carefully, and ripped off a burst at another SWAT, tracing a line of red splotches from his chest up to his nose.

The Section Nine operative rolled back into cover an instant later… but not before seeing a Section Nine analyst, armed only with his M-11, take a round to the head and drop bonelessly to the floor.

He and Boma both crouched even lower behind the desk then, as someone started pouring fully automatic fire toward them. "C-35!" Boma warned, recognizing the sound of Orb's standard heavy machine gun; chambered in the same caliber as Section Nine's standard sidearm, it fired 11.43mm bullets at velocities a handgun could only dream of… and which would make short work of the merely wooden desk.

Then, bizarrely, they heard the sound of bullets striking metal, and then a staccato burst of ricochets… followed by a high-pitched scream, which cut off with almost sickening suddenness. "What in the world was-" Batou began.

The answer came flying over the overturned desk in a flutter of slightly scorched trench coat, accompanied by a black jacket, as two men threw themselves behind cover. The former nearly rolled into a wall before he could stop himself; the latter came awkwardly to one knee, and pointed his PDW back the way they'd come.

"Been waiting long?" Ken gasped out, swinging himself around; his own PDW was slung over his back, with a pistol in his left hand and a blood-soaked Griever in the other. "How have you two been holding out, Batou?"

"Could be better," Batou replied, keeping a weather eye out for more SWAT. "We've been able to keep them from the south exit so far, but they haven't let us near it, either." He coughed, waving at the smoke. "Just what in the world set all this off, anyway? Even for SWAT, this is ridiculous."

"They tried to arrest me," the Major said simply, flicking Griever to scatter the blood, "and I took exception to it. That's when all hell broke loose. What about our casualties?"

"Not good," Boma answered. "We got most of the analysts under cover now, I think, but we lost at least three to those bastards. Didn't help they had a heavy machine gun, of all things. I'm guessing you took care of that, Major?"

"He wasn't expecting someone who could deflect bullets," Kira answered for his friend. "Ken, uh, cut off his arm; I finished the job." He wasn't particularly happy about that, but his face might've been made of stone for all the genuine remorse it showed.

One thing he _had_ learned from Ken, during the First War: showing mercy to someone who was trying his best to kill you was a bad idea, unless you _knew_ you could disable him without undue risk.

"Well, even without the machine gun, they've still got the numerical advantage, Boss," Batou said grimly, and paused to fire a burst toward a pair of SWAT who came too close. "We've got two squads of spec ops here, but we've got way too many rear-echelon people here. We need to get out, _now."_

"I know," Ken agreed heavily, "but I'm afraid we can't."

The big soldier groaned. "Blast it, Boss, I _knew_ you were going to say that! So what's the holdup?"

"Kira and I need to reach Communications Central, or the Situation Room; we need to warn _Minerva_ and _Odin _to bug out." Quickly putting away both pistol and sword, he pulled his C-26 off his back again. "Which route is more practical right now?"

"Situation Room," Batou said promptly, and jerked his head toward the distant door of Communications Central. "They went for Communications right away; tossed a Willy Peter grenade in there." Ken winced at that, while Kira nearly threw up; white phosphorus was _not_ kind to anyone it touched. "I don't think anybody got out of there," Batou continued grimly, "but I also don't think these bastards realize there's another full-up Com system in the SR. I think they're trying to secure the rest of the building before bothering with that, probably because of the biometrics."

Ken nodded. "In that case, I need you and Boma to reach Pazu; he's using the floor ducts to reach the south exit. If you three can secure a route for the non-combat personnel-"

"No, Ken," Kira interrupted suddenly. "You're going with them, too."

The Major blinked, for once genuinely startled. "Kira, what are you saying? We need to get word out to Morgenröte, and it's my-"

"Shut up!" Kira said forcefully, further surprising his mentor. "Listen to me, Ken: I'm no good at this kind of thing. You at least had Recon training in ZAFT, so you're more good helping to get these people out. If I'm alone, I should be able to reach the SR myself, and send word. I'm in the biometric database, right?"

"Well, yes," Ken acknowledged, "but-"

"Then you do your job, and I'll do mine," his friend stated firmly, and lifted his C-26. "Go."

"Kira, I can't just-" the Major tried again.

"Ken." Kira stared hard into Ken's eyes. "Just this once… _trust me."_

For several, endless moments, neither said a word, merely staring each other in the eye… and then Ken nodded, very slowly. "All right, Kira," he said softly. "Go for it… and Godspeed, amigo."

Kira nodded. "Same to you, Ken," he said. Then, turning, he headed off, keeping low to the floor as he ran toward another corner of the building.

Without waiting for instructions, Batou and Boma both popped up, braced their weapons on the edge of the overturned desk, and opened fire, spraying suppressing fire toward the nearest group of SWAT. Ken joined them a moment later, ripping off a burst of 5.45mm ammo at a SWAT officer about to fire on Kira.

He dropped, a trio of holes in his forehead having punched out most of the back of his skull, and other officers dropped to the floor as well, choosing self-preservation over attempting to chase Kira through a hail of gunfire.

The trio of Section Nine soldiers immediately dropped behind cover again as well. "Okay," Ken told his subordinates, "he's on his way. Time for us to do our part, and get everybody out of here… then blow this place as soon as we're all clear."

Batou grinned. _"Now_ you're talking, Boss. It's about time we dropped the hammer on these guys."

Turning away from the smoky battleground the lobby had become, they took to their own heels, and charged toward the southern exit, wherein lay their only escape… for themselves, and for every other member of Section Nine caught within the building.

* * *

Clyne Residence/Reverend Malchio's Orphanage, Library

* * *

The moment the front door blew in, Rau and Athrun threw themselves flat, their military training kicking in before they even realized they'd moved. Rau swung around behind his chair, putting it between himself and the room's only door facing the explosion, while Athrun quickly crawled under a low table, using it for concealment. 

They both had weapons in hand, as well, and they exchanged a look of grim amusement as they realized they were both carrying M-11s, the chosen sidearm of Section Nine.

Any trace of amusement quickly faded, though, as quick footsteps came down the hall in their direction… footsteps clearly made by combat boots, and doubtless worn by people whose intentions were anything but honorable.

"How many, do you think?" Athrun whispered, his usual ambivalence toward his former commander pushed aside by the urgency of the situation. "And why?"

"I notice you don't ask _who,"_ Rau noted, "but I suppose that goes without saying… I'd guess something close to a dozen, probably composed of Atlantic Federation commandos; as to why, I would imagine they got word that Siegel Clyne is living here, and decided to do something about it."

"That's what I thought." Athrun smiled tightly. "Unfortunately for them, they clearly don't know who _else_ is living here." Quickly chambering a round in his pistol, his expression turned serious again. "Commander… I still don't exactly trust you, but under the circumstances, I don't think I have much choice but to rely on your help. Will you do that?"

"Considering that I tried my very best to undermine Clyne's policies three years ago, and tried to kill Miss Lacus on several occasions, it's the least I can do to try and atone," Rau said solemnly. "You have my word, Athrun, that you and I are unequivocally on the same side here."

Athrun took a deep breath then, gazing intently at the formerly-masked man for a few, endless moments. It was true: he _didn't_ trust Rau, especially not after the insanity of Second Jachin. And yet… not only did Ken DiFalco, a man with every reason to hate Rau, vouch for the man, but Athrun considered himself at least a good judge of character, and by every standard he knew, Rau appeared to be completely sincere in his desire to atone for his actions under the influence of insanity.

_And even if I _didn't_ get that impression, I'm not sure that I have much choice but to trust him under the circumstances. I can't take on ten or more commandos all by myself; I'm a mobile suit pilot, not a Section Nine spec ops type. And there's Lacus, Siegel, and the orphans to worry about…_

The entire train of thought couldn't have taken more than a second to pass, whatever it might've felt like, and Athrun nodded sharply. "All right, then. Commander, I need to get upstairs and warn Lacus to get herself and the orphans into the shelter. Can you hold them off long enough for me to do that?"

"I'll do my best," Rau promised. "I don't think I'll be alone for long, anyway; Murrue and the others at Falcon's place will doubtless have heard that explosion, and will be on their way in moments."

"…Thanks." Somewhat to his own surprise, Athrun was complete sincere in his gratitude… but then, it wasn't as though Rau could _avoid_ getting involved; whether he was sane or not, the Earth Alliance soldiers would shoot him anyway, and it was a point in his favor that he'd choose to risk that alone, to give Athrun a chance to get the civilians out of harm's way. "I'll be going, then."

"You do that," Rau agreed. "And hurry."

Athrun didn't waste time acknowledging; he simply crawled backwards, out from under the table, then came into a crouch, and broke into a low run toward the door opposite of the one the enemies were most likely to come from.

He only just made it.

Just as Athrun reached the door, a 5.45mm bullet punched through the other door, retaining enough kinetic energy to smash right through the next, missing Athrun's head by only millimeters. The door from which the bullet had come promptly exploded inward, propelled by a combat-booted foot, and Athrun spun around long enough to snap off a shot of his own, before charging right through his own exit and out of the room.

The commando point man grunted in pain, as the 11.43mm round ripped a hole clear through his left bicep, but he kept on moving anyway, throwing himself into a roll to the right, while his fellows followed him, pouring suppressing fire toward where they believed any defenders would most likely be.

Unluckily for the point man, Rau Le Creuset was not where they expected him to be… and was, in fact, in a perfect position to put a bullet into the point man's right eye, the projectile smashing right through his nightvision goggles, the eye behind them, and ripping out the back in a spray of blood and worse things.

The next man in rolled left, slamming solidly against a desk, and cursed bitterly. "There's only one!" he snarled into his throat mike. "Take him!"

The only response he got -and the only one he needed- was a burst of automatic rifle fire, chewing up the chair Rau hid behind. Splinters flew everywhere, bullets punched clear through to impact in the floor on the other side, and Rau knew it was a matter of seconds -at the most- before some of those bullets found him-

The third man into the room, suddenly had his vision obscured by a spray of red over his goggles, and his finger slipped off the trigger in surprise. Turning to see what the source of the odd impairment was, he saw his companion tumbling back, almost gracefully… with his head almost detached from his neck by a bullet through the top of his spine.

The fifth man in, last of the detachment sent in to that sector of the house, went down as well, a large hole in the center of his chest. The third man was frozen a moment by the shock of it, then started to bring his rifle to bear in that direction instead…

A pistol was suddenly right in his face, pressed against the center of his goggles. It was held by a blonde-haired youth, and his eyes were pitiless as his finger tightened on the trigger. "Bastard," Dearka Elsman said simply, and squeezed.

Shocked by the sudden death of the rest of his team, and the veritable execution of the last man, the only man who'd managed to get all the way into the room alive lunged back to his feet, firing from the hip as he rose, and the newcomers fell back before the burst of automatic fire.

As the stream of bullets strafed toward Dearka's head, though, there was another bark, deeper than the assassin's C-26, and his own head rocked back… missing most of the upper cranium, courtesy of an 11.43mm round from the man he'd forgotten.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Rau Le Creuset slowly came back to his feet, a wisp of smoke curling around the barrel of his pistol. "Well," he remarked, _"that_ was… exciting."

"Exciting?" Dearka snorted, stepping more fully into the room, Mir at his side. "Nearly fatal, more like it. If you hadn't shot that last guy, I wouldn't be standing here right now. In fact… I might even be willing to call a truce, at least for now."

"Flattering," Rau said dryly. "Or it would be, except that I'm fairly sure part of your reasoning has to do with a certain man with a sword and an eyepatch… Nonetheless, Dearka, I appreciate your help. I thought I was dead for a moment there… and it would've been very easy for you to conveniently arrive a few seconds late."

"…I considered it," Dearka admitted. "Then I figured, why not? Falcon must have some reason for wanting you alive, so I thought it might be a good idea; besides, I _really_ don't like Earth Alliance assassins. Murderers _and_ bigots…"

Shaking his head, he knelt next to his own last victim, checking his gear. _Fairly standard,_ he thought, _with sidearm, long arm, and grenades… Something's strange here, though. Something about his exact choice of weapons…_

Before he could give the matter much thought, Mir spoke up, thoroughly destroying his train of thought. "Wait, what about Athrun and Lacus?" she asked suddenly, frowning in concern. "And Mister Siegel… are they…?"

Rau shook his head. "As far as I know, they're fine; Athrun went up to get them to shelter just before these assassins came in." He tilted his head. "What about your end? Where are Murrue and Lady Cagalli?"

"Up checking for Athrun and the Clynes," Dearka answered, standing again. "For one thing, I'm pretty sure there were at least a dozen of these guys at the start; that leaves seven unaccounted for, and I don't like that… especially since all contact with Section Nine HQ has been lost."

"The hardlines are down?" the commander said sharply, any trace of relaxation vanishing in an instant. "What about radio?"

Mir shook her head. "We already tried. Too much interference; we think there's an N-jammer in use over there."

Rau swore under his breath. "Unato must've moved sooner than we anticipated… Well, there's nothing we can do for Falcon and Kira now, except pray; by the time we could reach them, it would all be over anyway."

Dearka sighed. "Yeah, our thoughts exactly… So for now, let's finish off our problems, and then get out of here, eh?"

"Right," his former commander concurred. "In that case… the fighting has most likely moved up the rear staircase, and gone up to the second floor. Let's go."

* * *

Section Nine Local Headquarters, Situation Room

* * *

For the first time in nearly three years, Kira Yamato was having flashbacks to the street battle in Banadiya, against Blue Cosmos… and the memory was not at all comforting, as he tried to stay beneath the chattering of gunfire and occasional clouds of shrapnel from grenades. 

_Actually, _he thought to himself, rolling behind an overturned table for a much-needed breather, _this is even _worse _than Banadiya. Sure, I'm better trained for this kind of thing than I was then, but that battle didn't involve this much smoke… and there weren't this many attackers. We were still outnumbered, but not this badly…_

Nevertheless, he was determined to make it through. Far more than his own life was at stake in this battle… and out of his element or not, he refused to fall to mere SWAT officers. Men lacking true military training.

_Maybe I've never done _this _before,_ Kira, told himself, _but I've been in battle plenty of times now. The details are different, but the mindset is the same…_

Taking a deep breath -and wishing briefly that he'd worn a gasmask like Ken- he lurched into motion again, running down the war-torn corridor toward the Situation Room as fast as he could manage without coming all the way to his feet, and thus making himself an easy target.

Two meters down the passage, he stumbled, nearly falling… which was all that saved his life, as a burst of rifle fire nearly turned his head to paste. Bullets whipped past through the space Kira had occupied a moment earlier, chewing into the corridor wall.

Recovering, Kira turned partway around, sank to one knee, and opened fire, sending a precise three-round burst downrange. A bare instant after the rifle's recoil thumbed against his shoulder, he heard a brief, chopped-off scream, and then silence.

Glancing back, he saw the SWAT officer who'd fired on him lying on her back, a trio of holes in her chest, and he winced… then gagged, nearly losing the contents of his stomach, when he saw what it was that he'd tripped over.

A man in the silver and gray of Section Nine lay face up on the floor… or at least parts of him were there. His neck ended in a bloody stump, and his legs were mangled almost beyond recognition by what Kira could only assume was a fragmentation grenade.

It was only through sheer force of will that Kira kept himself from vomiting. Ken could look at a dead body, however badly mangled, with nary a twinge, but Kira's stomach was nowhere near as strong as the ace's… nor his mindset as pragmatic.

Forcibly turning his attention back to his mission, Kira started to turn away… then took a closer look at the mangled body's belt. _Is that…?_ Grimacing, he reached down, removed an object from the belt, then jerked at a ring on the top of it, before hurling it back the way he'd come.

He waited precisely three seconds… then took off running again, his course suddenly the last thing on any SWAT officer's mind as the white phosphorus grenade went off, scattering white-hot, burning metal through the air, neatly covering Kira from any pursuit.

Kira was not, by any means, fond of the nasty weapons, knowing full well the effect they had on a human body, but at this point he wasn't too concerned about that. He _had_ to reach that room, and it was kill or be killed now.

Abandoning all caution now, he charged down the corridor, covering the remaining five meters in moments, and practically flattened himself against the wall next to the SR door. Moving as fast he dared, he presented his eye to the retinal scanner located there, and prayed Ken had indeed gotten around to including his retinal pattern in the HQ computers.

A bright blue light bathed Kira's eye, rotating through a complete circle… and, with a chime, the sealed door swung open.

Without waiting for it to fully open, Kira dashed through, his tension-fueled steps quickly bringing him to one of the analysts' desks. _Okay,_ he thought, dropping into the chair, _any one of these should have access to the hardline Ken was talking about… but how do I bring it online?_

Flicking the computer terminal online, Kira's fingers started flying over the keyboard, eyes scanning the screen just as fast, as he hunted for the external communications lines. As familiar as he was with computers in general, his contact with Section Nine had, up to now, been relatively limited; he wasn't at all certain how they structured their databases; he was playing it entirely by instinct, searching through file after file as fast as his fingers could bring them up…

_Got it!_

Bringing the attached headset to his ear and settling its microphone into place, Kira brought the hidden connection with Morgenröte's harbor facility to life, punching through a direct link to the ship occupying one of their drydocks. "Attention, _Minerva,"_ he called, not bothering with any pleasantries or preambles, "this is Kira Yamato. Do you read me? Repeat, this is Kira Yamato. I need to speak with Captain Gladys immediately!"

_"Understood, Commander Yamato,"_ a surprised-sounding Meyrin Hawke answered a few moments later. _"I'll put you through immediately."_

"Thanks, Meyrin," Kira said sincerely, breathing a deep sigh of relief… completely unaware that he'd just addressed Meyrin by name for the first time.

The delay that followed couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but each one of them tore at Kira's already frayed nerves. Sooner or later, someone was going to come after him; the white phosphorus would settle soon enough, and then someone with a better door-knocker than Kira had would come through the door…

_"This is Captain Gladys,"_ a new voice said, steadying Kira's nerves once more. _"I've actually been trying to get in touch with Section Nine HQ for about half an hour, Commander Yamato. Is something wrong?"_

"Yes," Kira said bluntly. "We're currently under attack by approximately one hundred SWAT officers… uh, a bit less than that now, but still several dozen. Prime Minister Seiran issued an arrest warrant for Ken about half an hour ago, and after that went wrong, fighting broke out… Look, Captain, you need to get out of there right now. They'll be sending people your way next, if they haven't already."

There was a brief pause on the other end, as Talia absorbed the information. _"Understood, Commander Yamato, and thank you. We'll seal all hatches and deploy at once… if we can."_ Her voice took on a note of concern. _"We_ _might have trouble_,_ though, if they managed to seal the_ _outer doors for the drydock…"_

"I don't think that'll be a problem," Kira assured her. "Morgenröte's people don't really like Unato much, either. But you've got to hurry. We're trying to evacuate now, and keeping Unato's people pretty busy, but it won't be long before they turn their attention to you."

_"Roger that." _She hesitated. _"But… what about you, Lady Cagalli, and Section Nine, Commander?"_

"Like I said, we're trying to evacuate now; most of Ken's personnel will head for the Section Nine harbor -wherever that is- and I think Ken intends to head for _Odin."_ Kira took another breath, steadying himself. "Could you relay the evacuation order to _Odin,_ as well? I'm not sure how long this line will stay open…"

_"Already on it, Commander,"_ Talia assured him.

"Thank you, Captain," he said sincerely. "I… guess we'll see you when we get clear of here. Till then… good luck, Captain."

_"The same to you, Commander."_

* * *

Clyne Residence/Reverend Malchio's Orphanage, Second Floor

* * *

Athrun winced, hearing the gunfire in the room he'd left behind, but he didn't allow himself to hesitate. Rau had his job, and Athrun had one of his own; hesitation by either of them could get all too many innocents killed. 

_This is what I hate about this being an orphanage,_ he thought grimly, taking the stairs two at a time on his way up. _Too many high-profile targets, with too many bystanders to get caught in the crossfire._ He silently cursed himself. _We should've realized that secrecy would only protect us for so long, that someday the secret would get out… and that when it did, it would put Reverend Malchio and all the orphans at risk._

Exactly who the target of the attack was, Athrun wasn't certain. He was reasonably sure that it wasn't Rau, considering how few people were even aware of the man's continued survival, but beyond that, there were still three possible targets, depending on how thoroughly Unato had sold out to the Earth Forces… and how much Unato himself had realized.

_Okay, _he told himself, reaching the door at the top of the stairs, _assume the worst case scenario: they know about Lacus and Mister Siegel, and they know who "Alex Dino" really is. In that case, they'll_ all _be heading up here, once they realize Rau is the only person downstairs. They might even forget him entirely, if they decide it isn't worth the casualties involved…_

Shaking his head, Athrun pushed the thought of probabilities and likely targets out of his mind. Ken DiFalco could get away with that sort of thing in the heat of battle, because of the peculiar way in which his mind worked, but he wasn't Ken DiFalco… and even the Demon Lord himself sometimes got blindsided because he spent too much time thinking and not enough time reacting.

Taking a deep breath, Athrun gripped his M-11 in one hand, reached out with the other, and grasped the doorknob. Pushing it open, he immediately thrust the pistol through ahead of himself, prepared to fire on anything that might be on the other side-

"What's wrong, Athrun?!"

Athrun froze for an instant, then quickly checked himself, lifting the pistol off-target. "Lacus!" he said in relief, realizing it was his girlfriend, not a mortal enemy, waiting for him. "I'm glad to see you're safe! With everything that's happening…"

Standing near a window on the other side of the room, Siegel Clyne turned to Athrun. He had a pistol of his own in hand… though his grip was far more awkward. The grip of a man who took up arms out of necessity, not training, and had only the vaguest idea of how to actually use it.

"What's going on, Athrun?" he asked now. "First there was an explosion, then we heard shooting coming from downstairs…"

"We're under attack," Athrun said succinctly, nodding toward the window. "I'm not sure how many, but there are what appear to be Earth Alliance spec ops troops inside the house now; Commander Le Creuset is engaging several of them downstairs, I think. I think…" He took another deep breath. "I think the two of you are there most likely targets."

Lacus' eyes went wide. "My father and I? But… why? I could understand if this were still the War, but my father and I have been living peacefully here in Orb for over two years now! Why would they risk violating Orb's territory in this manner to kill two people who aren't even affecting the War any?"

He shrugged eloquently; it was puzzling him, as well. As Lacus had said, it would've been perfectly understandable during the First War; both Clynes had made themselves more than merely a nuisance to the Earth Alliance, particularly with Siegel's long political crusade against the PLANT sponsor nations. During that time, the two of them had had a real affect on the course of things, both on the battlefield and in the realm of public opinion. Then, assassinating them made perfect sense, militarily and in terms of propaganda.

But now, when they were merely trying to live away from the conflict…

"I don't think it's that much of a risk," Siegel said slowly. "Not when you consider Unato Seiran's recent policies… especially the new treaty," He gazed somberly at his eventual son-in-law. "It's entirely possible that Seiran is well aware of this action, and is merely turning a blind eye toward it for his own reasons."

"…Could be," Athrun agreed. "But I think worrying about that can wait until we get out of here. Lacus, I think you and your father should get down to the shelter, with the orphans; try to get in touch with the core crew, too. They should be waiting for word to return to the _Archangel,_ so if we can get them here-"

"Right," Lacus said with a nod, and turned to Siegel. "Father, let's go. With everything that's going on-"

With a resounding concussion of sound, the door leading out into the upstairs hallway blew inwards, torn to splinters by a cloud of buckshot moving at an appreciable fraction of the speed of sound.

Athrun instinctively hurled himself at Lacus, crossing the intervening two meters in an instant, crashing into her with enough force to topple them both to the floor in a tangle of limbs. The crackle of rifle fire that followed proof enough of the soundness of his instincts; had he wanted another half-second to act, they both would likely have been perforated.

As it was, he heard Siegel grunt in pain, and his head snapped around in horror to see Lacus' father slump to the floor, clutching a wound in his side… and the bullets were still flying, followed now by a trio of black-clad commandos entering the room with the cold, implacable manner of executioners.

For a fleeting, eternal instant, Athrun's mind flashed back nearly three years, to the abandoned White Symphony theater in Junius Five. There'd been gunfire that day, too, except it had all come from the defenders… and those defenders had included Nicol Amalfi, Martin DaCosta, and two Gray Demons, one of them now two years dead…

_"Lacus Clyne has been branded a traitor. We're authorized to use all necessary force to bring her in… including lethal force, if need be…"_

_"You have to make a choice…"_

_Well, _Athrun thought in that moment, suddenly angry, _I made my choice long ago… and with or without friends at my side, I'm not letting you bastards kill Lacus, or anyone else here!_

Conventional wisdom says that pilots are not among the best marksman, especially with pistols; their mission simply doesn't call for it, and so it is rare indeed to see a pilot whose skills with a pistol even approach those of a typical ground soldier, in speed or in accuracy.

Conventional wisdom, however, did not take into account Athrun Zala, once one of the best pistoleers ever to come out of the ZAFT Academy, possessed of a sharp eye and reflexes noteworthy even among Coordinators.

After that bare instant of hesitation, Athrun's pistol hand came up, he rolled partly off Lacus, and the sights of his M-11 rose toward the nearest assassin.

For all that the assassins were highly trained, very experienced, lethally competent, and thoroughly briefed, there was one small problem with all their planning: not a single person involved in the evolution of the raiding operation plan had the least idea that Athrun Zala would be present at the sight of the attack. Even if they had, no one in the Earth Alliance was in any position to know that Athrun Zala was a phenomenal shot with a pistol.

And so, not expecting to encounter a combat-trained Coordinator of any kind, let alone one so skilled, the first of the trio did not even notice Athrun's sudden movement. Nor would he notice anything at all, after that, for the single 11.43mm bullet struck him precisely in the left ear, continued along a virtually straight path, and punched out just above his _right_ ear.

He dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.

The second man heard the clatter of his comrade's weapons and gear hitting the floor, and he spun to face the origin of the shot, gaping in astonishment. He was still firing as he turned, and his burst tracked perilously close to Lacus… until a second pistol round shattered two of his front teeth, smashed through the top of his spine, and exited through the back of his neck.

The third man, not quite as unlucky as his fellows, chose to retreat instead of further engaging, throwing himself backwards before Athrun could draw a bead on him. _Gotta regroup,_ he told himself, ducking hurriedly back out the door. _Have to get back to Major Johnson, and-_

"Firing all over the place in an orphanage isn't very nice," a soft voice said, at the same moment a rifle bore came into contact with the back of his skull. "And trying to assassinate civilians isn't, either."

Before the assassin could even think of talking himself out of the standoff, or trying to disarm the woman who'd spoken, a finger squeezed.

With a meaty _thump,_ he joined his comrades on the floor, most of the back of his head missing, along with his nose.

Athrun sighed in relief, recognizing his rescuer's voice. "Nice timing, Murrue," he said gratefully. "These guys just don't know when to quit." Climbing unsteadily to his feet, he glanced at the corpses of the men he'd shot. "Nice to see that I still know how to shoot, at least."

"I'm sure," Murrue agreed, stepping into the room. "And very nice, by the way; I don't believe I've ever seen a pilot shoot quite that well, not even Mu." She paused, glancing around. "Is everyone alright?"

Before Athrun could reply, Lacus gasped. "Father!" she blurted, and scrambled quickly to Siegel's side. "Father, you're hurt!"

Groaning in pain, Siegel pressed one hand to the bullet hole in his right side, trying to stem the flow of blood. "It's… all right," he managed. "It's just a… flesh wound…"

"No, it's not," she said fiercely. "If we don't stop the bleeding, Father, you'll-"

Unable to bring herself to finish the sentence, Lacus broke off, shaking her head angrily. Then, moving with surprising speed and precision, she tore a strip from the hem of her skirt, gently moved her father's hand aside, and pressed the cloth to the wound, taking care to bunch it thickly over the hole. Tearing another strip free, she carefully looped it around Siegel's waist, then knotted its ends together, cinching it tight over the wound.

Watching the pink-haired girl work, Murrue couldn't help but be impressed. _Just when you think you've someone all figured out, they demonstrate a skill you've never seen before… Well, I guess it makes sense that she'd have gotten basic first aid training, especially in the wake of the Tragedy of Copernicus, but it's still a bit surprising…_

Athrun moved to Lacus' side, and knelt in front of Siegel. Quickly checking Lacus' first aid, he nodded in relieved satisfaction. "I think you'll live," he told the older man. "At least, if we can get you someplace safe before the rest of those spec ops people find us."

Siegel managed a weak chuckle. "I suppose this would be more fitting than the last time someone tried to assassinate me, at least; the Earth Forces have wanted me dead for a lot longer than Patrick ever did." He shook his head. "I suppose this means Lacus and I will have to leave with the _Archangel,_ as well; knowing Unato Seiran and the Earth Alliance, they'll simply try again if we stay here."

"Probably so," Murrue agreed, moving to guard the doorway. "Ken would probably know better -he always did know more about Earth Alliance operations than half of their own soldiers- but I do know that much, especially after Azrael's crusade against us two years ago. So yes, getting out of here before they find us again would be-"

"Too late," Cagalli cut in, ducking quickly into the room. "I just checked the other side of the house. There's still three of them, over in the guest room where Le Creuset's been staying, and they heard those shots. We've got maybe thirty seconds before they get to this room."

Athrun cursed. "That's not good… All right, Lacus, I want you to help your father down the stairs I came up. Commander Le Creuset should still be down there, assuming he's still alive-"

"He is," Murrue interjected. "Dearka and Miriallia are down there with him."

"Right. I want you two to meet up with them, and get down to the passage leading to the Section Nine harbor. And…" Athrun took a deep breath, before committing himself to an act of faith. "Ask Commander Le Creuset to begin Justice's startup sequence."

Lacus blinked; she hadn't expected her boyfriend to trust Rau even that far, considering the still-healing breach between the two. If anything, she would've expected him to insist on accompanying her and Siegel himself, and send Rau up to help Murrue and Cagalli. In that event, the two women could've shot him, if the need arose; instead, however…

_But, _she realized, _I suppose Athrun doesn't have much of a choice. He and Commander Le Creuset are the only people on hand who are properly familiar with even that much of Justice's operation, and since Athrun's a better shot…_

"I'll tell him," she promised, helping her father to his feet. "But don't take too long, Athrun, understand? No one should be flying that mobile suit but you… ever."

"I'll be there soon," he promised. "Just… please, hurry. Neither of you belong anywhere near a firefight, especially not against special forces."

"We will," Siegel told him, wincing as he and his daughter walked carefully to the stairs. "Good luck, Athrun."

"Thanks."

After the two were safely out of the room, Murrue quirked an eyebrow. "You're sure you'll need Justice, Athrun? So far, all we've seen are commandos…"

He shook his head. "If they came here, they probably expected Falcon to be here, or at least nearby; and if they expected that, then they also expected Preybird to be nearby, since he revealed during Break The World that it still exists. Ergo, they'll have sent mobile suits, in the hopes of destroying or -maybe preferably- capturing Preybird before Falcon can get airborne." He smiled suddenly; the expression was anything but pleasant. "So I'm going to show them-"

A quiet _thump,_ followed by the staccato crack of a submachine gun on full automatic fire, sent all three to the floor, ducking behind cover as bullets ripped into the wall at head level… and a small, truncated cylinder slammed into the far wall, before clattering to the floor.

While Cagalli and Murrue began returning fire, spitting bullets blindly in an effort to keep the assassins' heads down, Athrun's gaze was drawn to the object that had entered the room, and his eyes widened as he realized what the thump had been.

One of the attackers had a weapon equipped with a grenade launcher… and Athrun had perhaps two seconds to act before he and his friends were shredded.

* * *

Scott Johnson cursed, hearing the sound of gunfire ahead of him. _Anderson, Blake, and Blanchett,_ he thought bitterly. _That's where they were supposed to be… and if they'd been the ones who won_ _that, we'd_ _have heard from them by_ _now._

Johnson simply couldn't believe how badly the mission had gone. The possible presence of the Grimaldi Falcon had been taken into account during mission planning; that had, in fact, been one of their actual objectives. From everything he'd heard, though, there shouldn't have been _other_ people present with military training, yet there was no other explanation for how things had gone so far.

"I think that was Anderson," he said now, speaking to his three remaining subordinates. "We haven't heard anything from Cory's team since those shots downstairs, so I think we're on our own now."

His second in command, a stocky fellow called "Rock" for reasons known only to a small few, cursed under his breath, "How'd this happen, Major? One soldier and a couple of civilians… that's all this was supposed to be."

"Either Intel screwed up big time, or else Seiran's less reliable than we thought," Johnson said, tossing his head in annoyance. "Either way, we still have a job to do… and I don't know about you, boys, but I think it's time we got some of our own back from these bastards."

His surviving subordinates said nothing… but then, they didn't really need to. This mission had gone south so badly that, by all sane measure, they should've simply pulled back, abandoning the botched mission in favor of survival. It would hardly be the first time in history that a raid had gone sour, after all, and covert ops soldiers were seldom used as scapegoats, so long as their failure remained quiet.

The situation had gone beyond merely completing the mission, however. With the completely unexpected reversal of the tide of battle, the loss of most of their comrades -friends- the mission had become personal for the survivors.

Their objective remained the same… but the motive had changed from duty to vengeance. They didn't know who most of the defenders were, but they were determined to them down, in addition to completing their original objective.

Johnson nodded in satisfaction at his team's silent response. "All right, then, let's get these bastards… for Anderson, Cory, and all the others." Lifting up his C-26 for emphasis, he ejected its partially-spent magazine, and snapped in a full one. "Follow me, and stay low."

Whirling, Johnson crouched down, and stayed there as he broke into a run toward the source of the last gunshots he'd heard. _Whoever these guys are,_ he thought grimly, _they're good… but we've got experience on our side, along with firepower. If Rock can get a grenade into that room, that's one sector clear, and then we can return to the first floor, and finish off whoever's down there…_

It was the work of only seconds to reach the far side of the house's second floor; being a private home and not a military installation, its structure was relative small, and very open. Doors also failed to present a problem, with the majority of them already wrecked by Anderson's team.

Locating the door through which their targets lay was a simple task… though one that brought renewed anger to Johnson's heart, as he recognized Anderson's body on the floor, now missing most of its head. _They'll pay for that, _he thought, and pressed himself against the wall beside the door. Glancing back at his team, he gestured toward the door way itself; then, receiving a nod in return, he spun away from the wall, firing through the doorway the moment his weapon's muzzle cleared the doorframe.

Two of his subordinates did the same, and Johnson had the satisfaction of seeing shadowed figures rolling for cover in the room, diving frantically away from the hail of gunfire, in too much of a hurry to even think of shooting back.

_We have you now, _he thought in savage satisfaction. _Hiding won't help you; in a second, Rock will fire-_

As though triggered by Johnson's thoughts, Rock pulled the trigger on his submachine gun's attached grenade launcher, and with a thump the small explosive hurtled into the room, slamming into the far wall, then clattered to the floor.

The commandos broke away from the door in a hurry, taking the scant seconds available to them to get out of range of the coming explosion. Their body armor, while effective against light to medium projectile fire, would be all but useless against the shrapnel of a fragmentation grenade.

In the endless seconds before detonation, Johnson began to smile to himself. _That's that, _he thought, _and now all we have to do is run like bats out of-_

Another clatter, followed by a small, dark object sailing into view, stopped Johnson's thoughts in their tracks. He knew instinctively what had just happened, however impossible it was, and his eyes began to widen in shock, disbelief, and horror-

The grenade vanished .25 seconds later, expanding outward in a sudden, violent explosion. The blast effects, normally minimal, were quite sufficient at short range to scorch Johnson's face… or rather, what was left of it, as the blast front followed just _behind_ the cloud of shrapnel.

Scott Johnson died instantly, his head disintegrated by metal fragments; Rock followed a fraction of a second later, shredded by the shards of his own grenade, leaving only his weapons behind… at which point the spare grenades on his belt also went off, obliterating the wall next to him and blasting a hole in the ceiling above, while instantly incinerating the remaining pair of assassins before they even knew the grenade had come back to bite them.

* * *

Athrun Zala breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief, and carefully straightened. "You two okay?" he asked, crossing to where Murrue and Cagalli lay, to one side of the door. "Are either of you hit?" 

Groaning, Murrue sat up. "I'm not hurt, no," she assured him. "Not by gunfire, anyway," she amended, rubbing her head. "I think I've got a headache from all those gunshots, and hitting the floor like that didn't do my knees or elbows any good, but otherwise I seem to be fine."

"Same here," Cagalli agreed, pulling herself to her feet. "Almost wasn't, though. What did you do, anyway? I thought we were dead."

He shrugged sheepishly, and gestured toward his foot. "Calculated risk," Athrun explained. "We were dead if I _didn't _do anything, so I took a chance. I don't think they were expecting me to kick it back at them."

"Probably because it was insane," Cagalli told him, shaking her head. "That should've blown your foot off, you know that? As it was, we're lucky it had time to get a few meters away, or we'd have been shredded anyway."

Tucking his pistol into his jacket, Athrun nodded calmly. "It crossed my mind, but there wasn't really time to second guess myself."

In point of fact, he'd acted entirely on instinct. A Coordinator he was, but even genetically-engineered reflexes were only so fast; not even a Coordinator had time to properly think through a course of action in the time available before a grenade went off. In this case, he'd just happened to hit on the right idea… and, just incidentally, completely eradicated the threat, buying them all some time.

_I can't wait to get back to the_ Archangel, he thought, shaking his head. _I may be a good shot, but I'm a pilot, not a commando. This is Section Nine's line of work, not mine._

"Well," Murrue said presently, breaking into Athrun's musings, "we'd better get down to the harbor; I'm still very, very uneasy about the silence from Section Nine. Something tells me this is only the tip of the iceberg… and Ken and Kira may need our help right now."

Athrun nodded. "Right. Let's- Huh?" He cut himself off, as the same trained instinct that had warned him of the first attack nagged at him again. Something about the whole setup was bothering him, as well as his own words before Lacus and Siegel departed…

A distant thumping sound, almost more felt than heard, echoed toward the house… and the three people still aboveground looked at each other in dawning realization. Distant though the sound might be, it sounded unpleasantly familiar to all of them.

"Athrun," Murrue began, her voice remaining calm only through her years in adverse battlefield conditions, "could you check the window? That sounded a lot like footsteps. _Large _footsteps."

Nodding wordlessly, Athrun stepped past her, striding quickly to a window facing the coast, and peered out. At first, he could see nothing; evening had come, and the gloom was growing deeper. His keen eyesight, however, soon discerned shapes rising out of the surf… large shapes, looking like mechanical giants of some kind.

He cursed, as detail began to register. Clearly humanoid, looking to be deep blue and gray in color, there were at least half a dozen of the figures, each with a large, semi-circular backpack, with claw-like limbs attached, and a trident-like weapon in hand.

Cagalli, hearing his soft oath, closed her eyes. "Oh, what now?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted, stepping away from the window. "They're mobile suits, at least six of them, but they're a model I've never seen before. I can tell you one thing, though: they look an awful lot like Shani Andras' old Forbidden."

"The biological CPU Shiho killed at Jachin," Murrue murmured in recognition. "I'd heard the Earth Alliance was developing amphibious variants, but I didn't realize they'd built more than a few prototypes…" She shook her head. "We'd better get down to the harbor. Those won't be that much of a threat, but that safety margin only applies if we can get the _Archangel_ and Justice moving."

Athrun nodded. "Agreed." Taking a deep breath, he walked to the doorway leading back downstairs, Cagalli and Murrue quickly falling in behind him. "Let's go, then," he added… and a new fire burned in his emerald eyes, one not seen in the young man in over two years. A fire that, while not extinguished, had been dimmed ever since the terrible battle that had cost his father his life, and shattered so many other lives…

Alex Dino, Morgenröte engineer, had suddenly vanished; in his place was Athrun Zala, pilot of ZGMF-X09A Justice… and he was going to war again at last.

* * *

Morgenröte Harbor Facility, _Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

_Just when you think things will hold together just long enough,_ Talia Gladys thought to herself, settling into her command chair, _everything decides to fall apart in an instant. With a vengeance, this time._

Bare minutes had passed since Kira's warning had reached the ship, and _Minerva_'s crew was still reacting to the unexpected development. Only Meyrin and half the bridge crew were fully informed; all that anyone else knew so far was that all personnel had been recalled aboard, and all exterior hatches had been sealed, leaving the crew shut in, and all outsiders locked out.

"Status?" Talia asked now, looking over at Meyrin.

"All personnel have returned aboard, Captain," Meyrin Hawke replied promptly. "Yolant was the last, and he arrived thirty seconds ago. All hatches are now sealed; access to the outside is now cut off."_ In theory, at least,_ she thought, but didn't say aloud; they all knew that a well-equipped repair facility -such as Morgenröte- could open a hull as easily as seal it. "Engine room crew reporting for full shift now; Mister Aves reports mobile suits squared away."

The captain nodded in approval. "Good. We may be needing them soon. Malik," she went on, turning back to the bow, "how soon can we be underway?"

Malik Yardbirds turned in his chair, surprised by the question. "The engines are ready to go any time, Captain," he replied uncertainly. "But why…?"

"Just be prepared to light them off at any moment, Malik," she told him. "I'll explain momentarily. Chen, weapons' status?"

Chen Jian Yee shrugged; he knew more about the situation than the recently-arrived Malik, but he was none too sure what _his_ duties would have to do with it, at least until they were in open waters. "All systems in the green, Ma'am," he said promptly… almost pointedly leaving unasked the question of, "why?"

"Excellent, Chen." Satisfied, Talia leaned back in her chair, talking the time still available to relax. She knew that, soon enough, she would have more than enough to occupy her attention, but for now…

_For now, we wait until Arthur gets here, _she told herself. _And after that, we hope Commander Yamato was correct about where the sympathies of Morgenröte's engineers lie. If he's right, we've got a good chance of getting out of here intact, at least far enough to prepare our defense. If he's wrong, then Chen will have to _blast_ a way out of here…_

Aft of Talia's chair, the bridge hatch slid open, interrupting her thoughts, as Arthur Trine strode quickly onto the bridge's upper deck. Somewhat harried -and thoroughly bemused- he'd been off-shift, asleep in his cabin, when the alert came, and it showed in the state of his uniform. He was only just fastening his coat and settling his cap into place when he came quickly down to Talia's side.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Captain," he apologized, saluting quickly. "I came as soon as I heard the alert. But…" He hesitated. "I have to confess that I have no idea what's going on, Captain."

"We just got a call from Section Nine headquarters, Arthur," Talia informed him. "Commander Yamato called it in… over a secure hardline, apparently unknown to the Orb government. It seems that Prime Minister Seiran has decided to make his move, and Section Nine is currently under heavy fire. Commander Yamato believes Orb police will be here at Morgenröte before long, as well."

His eyes widened. "Orb police, acting in an offensive role? Just what is going on, Captain? I knew the political situation was growing precarious, especially in the wake of Chief Representative Athha's resignation, but this…"

"I know." She sighed. "I didn't expect Seiran to be this bold either… but it's what we've got to deal with, assuming Commander Yamato is correct, and I believe he is. In that case, I also think it's wise we follow his suggestion and pull out of here as soon as possible."

For once, the somewhat By the Book executive officer didn't even think of arguing. He was not normally one to approve of unorthodox tactics, and generally felt uncomfortable whenever his captain thought outside the box, but even he knew that desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Agreed, Captain," he said without hesitation. "If that's the situation, then we should depart without delay. Er… assuming it's currently possible for us to escape…?" he said uncertainly.

"That's exactly what I'm about to find out." Talia swiveled her chair to look up at the communications station. "Meyrin, patch me through to _Odin,_ will you? I'd like to consult with Captain Chance immediately."

"Right away, Ma'am," Meyrin acknowledged, and raised one hand to her headset. _"Odin,_ this is _Minerva, _do you read?"

_"Loud and clear, _Minerva," Tom Delaney's voice replied calmly. _"What's up, compadres?"_

"Commander Delaney," Talia said, before Meyrin could reply, "this is Captain Gladys. I'd like to speak with Captain Chance immediately, if he's available. I've got a message from Section Nine headquarters to pass along, and I'm afraid it isn't good news."

There was a long pause at the other end, giving her the impression that those on Odin's bridge were digesting the information, and already speculating on the exact nature of the bad news. _Not that it's very hard to guess, I expect, _she thought. _Under the circumstances-_

_"Captain Chance here, Captain,"_ Jason Chance said at length. _"Would I be correct in assuming your not-good news is related to a certain politician with orange glasses and a son with all the spine of an amoeba?"_

"You would, Captain Chance," Talia confirmed. "Apparently, he's moved against Section Nine headquarters; Commander Yamato didn't have time to go into much detail, but their people seem to be under heavy fire… and he's expecting us to be next. He recommended that we launch immediately." She paused. _"Can_ we do that, Captain?"

_"If you're referring to whether or not Morgenröte will let us out,"_ he said, _"I don't think that'll be a problem. Give me a moment, and we'll know for sure."_ His voice grew more distant, as he evidently turned away from the microphone. _"Tom, contact Morgenröte directly, and see if you can patch Chief Simmons into this line."_

_"On it, Captain,"_ Tom acknowledged.

For the next few moments, the only sound over the link from Odin consisted of keyboard tapping and low murmuring from the Demon occupying Odin's communications; the gap left Talia with some time to wonder what, exactly, Chance was looking to accomplish. She didn't know who "Chief Simmons" was, let alone what she was chief _of,_ but it presumably had something to do with the current situation…

_"This is Erica Simmons, Jason,"_ a new, female voice cut in, before Talia's thoughts could get more concerned. _"What can I do for you people this fine evening?"_

_"Considering that you probably already know the situation, Erica,"_ Chance said dryly, _"I'm guessing you know why we called."_

_"True,"_ the woman admitted. _"At least, the presence of a couple of dozen armored vehicles and around a hundred troops outside the facility gives me something of a clue in that regard."_ Her tone sobered considerably with her next words. _"You're wondering which side I'm on, aren't you, Jason."_

_"Actually,"_ Chance replied, sounding conciliatory, _"I'd never dream of questioning your loyalties, Erica. Other higher-ups, though, I'm not quite so sure about."_

"Besides which," Talia interjected, "I'm afraid I'm not quite as familiar with you as Captain Chance obviously is, Chief Simmons. May I ask who, exactly, you are?"

_"Oh, sorry,"_ Erica said, with a chuckle, _"I guess I forgot my manners. I'm Erica Simmons, chief of… well, operations in general. Three years ago, I was also in charge of _Archangel_'s repairs both times they took refuge here. Currently, I'm acting mostly as a liaison with Section Nine, helping them out with their maintenance needs. Does that answer your question, Captain?"_

"Admirably, Chief," Talia assured her. "That tells me everything I need to know."

That, she reflected, was nothing more than the truth. The engineer's past association with _Archangel_ would've been quite the endorsement by itself; her current close connection with Section Nine essentially sealed the matter, considering the current situation.

_"In answer to the question Jason just asked by implication,"_ Erica said presently, _"you won't have any trouble getting out… as long as you leave right now. We can open the harbor exit immediately, and keep it open for three minutes; after that, you'd better be gone, because Unato seems to have a top-flight hacker with him, somebody who's already making progress at trying to break out security."_

Talia could almost see Chance wince. _"Understood, Erica. Thanks for the heads up."_

_"No problem, Jason."_

There was a brief pause from the Morgenröte link… and then a shudder ran through the ship, accompanied by and audible grinding sound from somewhere ahead of _Minerva,_ and light from the harbor's interior began to spill out through a widening crack between exit hatch and facility wall.

_"Exit is opening,"_ Erica reported. _"Now flooding hangar. If you're going to go, get a move on right now, guys… and Godspeed."_

_"Thank you, Erica,"_ Chance said sincerely. Then, _"Lieutenant Lipinski, ahead one third, then accelerate to three quarters once we're in open waters. Captain Gladys,"_ he added, _"I suggest we join forces for the trip out. Considering that we're almost certain to have hostile mobile suits incoming, combining our efforts would probably be the smart thing."_

Talia nodded. "Agreed, Captain Chance. Chief Simmons," she went on, addressing the engineer, "thank you for the assistance. We owe you one."

Erica laughed. _"Don't worry about it, Captain; I'll just put it on Falcon's tab, since he started this whole mess… Anyway, happy to help stick it to Unato. Good luck."_

The line closed without further ado, and Talia turned her attention to more immediate matters. "Malik," she said formally, _"launch Minerva."_

* * *

Section Nine Local Headquarters

* * *

"This is completely insane," Batou grumbled, crawling quickly along the floor toward the southern exit. "A hundred SWAT against a couple of dozen untrained analysts and half a dozen trained operatives… Tell me again why we're doing this, Boss?" 

"Because the alternative is getting killed outright," Ken told, pausing to roll on his back, point his C-26 back the way they'd come, and rip off a short burst at a head that had popped out of cover. The head vanished, though due to injury or prudence the ace couldn't say. "Or captured, then given a speedy trial and even speedier execution… particularly me, but you wouldn't be much better off, either."

Batou grunted irritably, but didn't dispute the point. Much as Unato Ema Seiran hated Ken DiFalco, he wasn't likely to look much more favorably on the many Orb recruits among Section Nine's roster; doubtless the politician would consider them traitors of the highest -or lowest- order.

Of the three soldiers, Boma was, perhaps, the calmest. Though Ken was normally an imperturbable sort, he was highly uncomfortable with ground combat, while Batou was of a more volatile nature; Boma was neither, and remained quiet as they hurried as cautiously as they could toward the south exit.

Silent in words, at least. Having taken the time to stop at an arms locker, Boma had exchanged his C-26 for a C-30, thus adding grenade capability to his weapon. A former grenadier and general explosives expert with the Orb Army 1st Airborne Division, he was ordinarily better suited to an open field battle; today, however, his talents were quite an asset, as Ken was at this point unconcerned with damage to the building itself.

Thus, when a sudden hail of gunfire erupted from behind them, Boma was the first to turn around, and the first to see the full extent of the danger. A half-dozen SWAT were heading their way, firing as they came; Ken jerked to one side as 5.45mm bullet ripped into his right sleeve, grazing the arm beneath, and Batou let out a yelp, cursing as a near miss almost took off his head.

Then Boma pulled the trigger, launching a fragmentation grenade back at them.

The SWAT didn't even have time to scream before being turned to hamburger, and Ken nodded approvingly. "Good work, Boma," he commented, already back in motion. Not being particularly good with explosives of any sort -a deep, dark secret of his Recon training was, in fact, his utter ineptitude with hand grenades- he did, at least, appreciate the skill of those who _could_ use them to proper effect.

Another few moments of crawling passed, making another few meters progress down the hallway, before Batou muttered an imprecation under his breath, came to his feet, and sprinted away, zigzagging as he ran to throw off the aim of anyone who did happen to try shooting through the lobby's smoke. "If you keep moving like a snail," he called back to his comrades, "this place'll be under their control before we get anywhere at-!"

He was mid-sentence, and only two meters away from the southern exit, when the door swung inward, admitting a dozen more SWAT.

Time seemed almost to freeze for an instant. There were only three Section Nine defenders on hand, and one of them was completely exposed; of the other two, the one weapon which could've cleared them all out was prohibited by Batou's proximity, leaving only automatic rifle fire, which was _also_ made problematic by Batou's position.

_Throw of the dice,_ the normally deliberate Ken thought… and all hell broke loose, as over a dozen submachine guns opened up at once.

Even Ken couldn't entirely comprehend the sudden, blindingly fast outburst of violence. Ken and Boma opened fire at the same moment as the SWAT officers, aiming at the few targets within their field of fire; Batou started firing then, as well, and bullets crisscrossed the corridor… joined by fire from both floor and ceiling, as well as a side door.

One SWAT went down in an instant, his head reduced to bloody mist and chest perforated by over a dozen wounds; the man besides him jerked and twitched, shuddering like a marionette controlled by a crazed puppeteer as he fell. The burst from a third narrowly missed Ken's right arm, tracing a row of holes along the floor, before he, too, fell, torn up by Boma's C-30.

A fourth took a 5.45mm round to the chest, blowing a hole through his heart. Randomly-firing neurons in his dying brain flung him backwards, colliding with another officer behind him; living and dead collapsed in a tangle of limbs. The survivor tried to pick himself up… until his head shattered, struck by a round coming from a nearby floor grate.

In less than two seconds, almost half of the attackers were down, beginning to even the odds… and then Batou grunted, dropping to the floor as a burst scythed through his legs. "Bastards!" he snarled as he fell, still trying to fire even as he went down.

The next handful of instants were a blur of gunfire, blood, and screams, incomprehensible to even the most hardened and experienced soldier; all Ken could tell for sure was that, by some miracle, none of the hostile fire did more than scratch him… though he did receive a fair number of those, as grazes ripped across his sleeves and trouser legs.

He also heard Boma grunt, clutching at his shoulder… and then, suddenly, it was all over, every weapon falling silent almost at once.

Ken blinked, then cautiously came to one knee, wondering what had just occurred. _There were more than just three weapons on our side,_ he thought, checking quickly for threats. _There were at least three others… but from where?_

A panel leading into one of the ceiling ducts swung down abruptly, and Rick Chung dropped easily to the floor. "Quite the fine mess, Major," he said cheerfully, surveying the dozen corpses at the end of the corridor. "Good thing I thought of- Batou!"

Seeing the big soldier lying on the floor not far from the dead SWAT, Rick ran quickly forward, coming to one knee at Batou's side. "Hey, you okay, big guy?" he asked anxiously, quickly checking the bigger man's vitals.

Batou mustered the strength to wave a hand dismissively. "I'll be fine, Chung," he said irritably, pain lending a raspy quality to his voice. "It's just my legs; I'll live if you can just get me out of here before I bleed to death."

"Don't complain," another voice interjected in a soft, snide voice, and a floor panel swung open. A man with close-cropped brown hair and a perpetual squint, wearing the gray coverall of a Section Nine field operative, hauled himself out of the floor duct, a C-26 slung over his right shoulder. "Be glad we don't have to haul you through one of those ducts," Pazu added. "Then you'd _really_ have something to complain about."

"Just shut up and get me out of here," Batou said irritably, voice made hoarse from pain. "The sooner we're out of here, the sooner I can get these holes patched."

"Soon, Batou," Ken told him, turning to the door from which one burst of fire had come. "We've still got to get the analysts out, and get that warning out to _Minerva…"_

"Already done, Ken," Kira Yamato announced, stepping through the door, cradling a still-smoking C-26 his arms. "Sorry I'm late," he added. "I… ran into a few problems on the way. Nothing I couldn't take care of, but things got kinda hairy."

The ace sighed in a rare display of relief. "Good to see you, amigo; I was starting to think you weren't going to make it." His gaze sharpened. "You said you delivered the message. Are they already moving on it?"

Kira nodded. "Yeah. Captain Gladys said she'd pass the warning on to _Odin,_ and they'll be moving out as soon as possible."

"In that case, there's no more reason for us to remain in this place." Ken turned slightly. "Rick, what about the noncombatants? Are they ready to move out?"

"What's left of them, yeah," Rick replied grimly, anger smoldering in his eyes. "Those SWAT bastards… they gotta be Seiran loyalists, Major. They don't care if somebody's actually a field agent or not, or even if they're armed; they just shoot anybody they see." He clenched a fist. "I saw one of our guys try to surrender. Dropped his pistol, walked out with his hands up… and took one in the head."

"Bastards!!" Batou snarled. "When I get my hands on-"

"Easy there, tough guy," Pazu advised. "You're just going to lose even more blood." He turned back to Rick. "What about the others? I know we took a lot of casualties, but we couldn't have lost _all _our desk jockeys."

The younger man took a deep breath. "No," he agreed, more calmly, "we didn't. I got some of them down to the parking garage, and put half a dozen of them in an APC; they're on their way to the S9 harbor. A couple more got out through a window on Level Two. Those guys had guts… Anyway, I managed to get in touch with Thompson, and he and Rathenau are trying to get the rest through side corridors over here."

Ken nodded. "Excellent. Once we've got the remaining noncombatants out, we can exfilitrate, as well; and once we've done that, we'll blow the house down."

He fell silent for several moments after that, and Kira suspected he knew why. The ace had long lived a wandering existence; from the day he joined ZAFT, in 68, he'd spent his time constantly moving around… especially after Junius Seven was destroyed. From the Bloody Valentine onward, he'd traveled a solitary path, nearly destroyed by the death of Laura Elsman, and lacking a place to call home. That condition had lasted until the end of the First Bloody Valentine War, when he became engaged to Murrue Ramius, and settled in Orb.

Ken DiFalco had built a life for himself there, throwing himself into his dual rear-echelon duties of leader and architect with gusto and generally putting down roots with Murrue… and now he was being forced to throw it all away, and return to the field of battle once again… and, once again, without a place to call home.

_Probably just as well, though,_ Kira reflected. _The idea of Ken settling down on a planet… And besides, he still has work to do. We all do…_

Ken snapped out of his reverie as abruptly as ever, typical brusque manner reasserting itself. "Pazu, Boma, get Batou out of here," he instructed. "I'm sure _Odin_ will be heading out soon; take a Heli from the motor pool, and get aboard as soon as you can. We'll follow once the evacuation is complete."

"On it, Major," Pazu acknowledged promptly, and nodded to Boma. "C'mon, let's get the big guy out of here before anything else blows up."

Grunting with the effort -Batou was anything but small, and his grumbling wasn't helping matters- the two field operatives half-carried, half-dragged the big soldier out the door, leaving Ken, Rick, and Kira standing amidst the corpses.

"Do you think this is finally almost over, Ken?" Kira asked softly, glancing down at the bodies. "All this violence and killing… It's crazy."

"I know," the ace agreed quietly. "And I'm quite sure I'm going to lose my last meal as soon as I have the time. As to when that'll be… Do _you _think it's over, Kira?"

Freedom's pilot shook his head with a sigh. "No," he admitted, "I don't. I don't think Unato will give up this easily; and if he launches Orb mobile suits, I'm not sure we've got enough on our side to stop them, especially if they take us by surprise."

_"That _isn't going to happen," Ken said firmly. "Saito is keeping an eye on things topside; he'll warn us if mobile suits start coming our way." He hefted his C-26. "In the meantime, though, all we can do is wait… and pray we can get the rest of my people out before any more are butchered today."

* * *

_Minerva,_ Pilots' Locker Room

* * *

Shinn Asuka fastened his collar with a sigh, securing his flightsuit's closure with absentminded care. _It's just like I thought,_ he told himself, feeling resigned. _Outside of the PLANTs, we'll always be in danger; the rest of the world is against us…_

On the other side of the compartment, taking his helmet out of a locker, Rey Za Burrel heard the sigh, and glanced over his shoulder. "Something wrong, Shinn?" he asked, tucking his helmet under his arm.

"…Not really," Shinn said quietly, taking out his own helmet. "It's just… this is just what I would've expected out of Orb. The talk about their 'principles' all the time, and even stand up for them when the pressure is on… but as soon as the wind blows the other way, they just toss it all into the garbage." He shook his head. "This kind of situation is just so typical…"

"I'm not sure that's fair, Shinn," Lunamaria Hawke disagreed; she was near the hatch, already fully suited. "I was actually impressed with the Chief Representative's actions; she turned a losing battle into a political statement, and drew attention to what the Seirans are actually doing."

"For all the good it did," Rey said quietly, shaking his head. "This is going to be just a blip on the radar, Luna; it'll all be forgotten soon. Especially," he added, tapping his helmet lightly, "after _this._ A violent confrontation of ships from ZAFT and Section Nine against Orb units will be front page news all over the world… and a _lot_ more visible than one politician, however important, resigning in protest over the treaty."

Luna frowned. "I don't know about that, Rey," she said slowly. "Okay, so the Earth Alliance media is sure to portray this in the worst light possible, but even they should have some trouble with this one. An unprovoked attack on a ship that they'd granted sanctuary… I don't think even _they_ will be able to claim it was just in self-defense!" She shook her head. "Besides, it wasn't the effectiveness that I was talking about, Rey. My point is, Orb really _is_ sticking to their principles this time… or at least the real Orb nobles are."

Shinn snorted. "Principle?" he repeated derisively. "Principle is what got Orb seared by nuclear fire three years ago. 'Principle' just gets people killed."

Rey looked thoughtful, but Luna shot the black-haired pilot a shrewd look. "Oh, really?" she said slyly. "I seem to remember that it was principle that led Ken DiFalco down the path that eventually ended the War. Am I wrong?"

He started to speak, then paused, a thoughtful look on his face. "I… hadn't thought about it that way," he admitted. "Still, the Major's situation was entirely different; he was just one person, not a head of state, and he was leaving to prevent something even worse-"

_"Attention pilots,"_ Millenia Crescent's voice blared over the intercom, cutting off the bourgeoning debate. _"We're nearing open waters, which means we'll probably be under attack at any moment. All three of you, get to your machines as soon as possible."_

Rey stepped to the intercom panel. "Understood, Commander," he acknowledged for all of them. "…Are we going to have any support?"

The woman's shrug was practically visible over the voice connection. _"Eventually… but not quite yet. My understanding is that most of _Archangel_'s contingent is still en route. However, I have it on good authority that Orb forces will soon have a… distraction, so at least we'll have time to get ready."_

"Roger that, Commander." He cut the connection, and turned back to his fellow pilots. "I guess that's it, then."

"Yeah," Shinn agreed, already heading for the hatch. _And,_ he added silently, _it's almost time to fly with Preybird again… and maybe even Freedom, if they all make it in time._

_Under other circumstances, I might not like it… but with the odds facing us now, I only hope Freedom's pilot really is as good as they say._

* * *

Section Nine Local Headquarters, Southern Exit

* * *

"Well," Rick remarked, shaking his head as he dumped a weapons case into the back of a jeep, "this has all been a fine mess, hasn't it? That bastard Unato…" 

Ken nodded in silent agreement, glancing at the door leading back into the building. There were more bodies there now… and this time, there were military flack vests mixed in among the police uniforms and gray Section Nine coveralls.

There were also three more Section Nine analysts sprawled there, along with an unlucky secretary… and five field-grade officers, including Lieutenant Commander Mitchell Thompson.

Kira, for his part, was slightly green as he, too, glanced back at the remnants of the final skirmish. _How _could _they?_ he thought, closing his eyes in pain. _I knew Unato wanted Section Nine taken out, but this… this is terrible…_

The final assault had been short, sharp, and brutal. Mitch Thompson and Karl Rathenau had succeeded in getting the remaining rear-echelon personnel to the southern exit, along with a handful of field operatives, and they'd begun a smooth -albeit hurried- evacuation via the rear garage. Things had proceeded smoothly for perhaps five minutes… and then, just as the final group was coming out, the remaining SWAT officers had launched a last attack, fury at the brutal casualty rate overcoming all else in one final push to carry out the operation.

And this time, they hadn't been alone, for Unato had finally realized that while he'd thought he'd pinned down a jackal, he'd instead cornered a fox. With the understanding that Section Nine's soldiers were drawn from only the best, he'd made the decision to send in elements of the Orb Army, taking with them heavier firepower and far better training than even SWAT police had.

The resulting blitz had taken the defenders completely by surprise, and the results spoke for themselves. In that brief outburst of raw violence, bullets had flown everywhere, men fell or blew apart under heavy weapons' fire… and a handful of special forces operatives stood off two dozen highly trained soldiers only at the cost of losing eight of their own, including one of their best field commanders.

"…Mitch died well," Ken said now, turning reluctantly away from the carnage. "He knew he was dead even before he threw himself on that grenade; even modern medicine couldn't have saved him in time, not with his right arm blown off at the shoulder. Same for the others… even the three poor souls who never belonged in that firefight in the first place."

"…Yeah," Kira agreed, turning away himself. "Look, Ken, Rathenau's got all the others away; I think it's time we got out of here, too."

"I won't argue with you there," his friend agreed with a wince, feeling the pain of a dozen scrapes and grazes, along with more bruises than he cared to count. "There's more of them inside, and Rick and I both need to at least get some bandages on." He strode over to the jeep, and started to open the driver's door. "The sooner we-"

Before he could so much as pull the latch, Rick stepped quickly past him, and swung himself over the door and into the driver's seat. "I don't think so, Major," he said firmly, in response to Ken's startled look. "Let you drive? We'd be lucky if we got half a klick before becoming road kill."

"He's right, Ken," Kira agreed, with a shudder that was only half feigned. "I remember Sophia told me Natarle once said you drive like a maniac… and I've never seen anything out of you to change my mind."

Ken blinked, momentarily nonplused. "Oh, come on, my driving isn't _that…"_ A long stare from Kira made him trail off, a process that ended with a resigned shrug. "Fine. Your mutiny is forgiven, Rick; I know better than to argue with Kira. And besides, it's probably better if I take the shot while we're still in motion, anyway."

Kira, hopping into the front passenger seat of the jeep, couldn't disagree with his old mentor on that point. He didn't know exactly what the setup for the building's demolition charges was, but he did know enough about explosives in general to understand that being anywhere near when they were set off came under the heading of Bad Thing.

As Ken pulled himself into the back of the jeep, though, one question did occur to Kira. "Uh, Ken… you said take the 'shot'? What shot? I thought you were going to remotely trigger the charges…?"

"Can't," the ace said succinctly, opening the case Rick had loaded. "They're still jamming communications; by the time we got far enough away to not be engulfed in the blast, we'd also be too far away for the detonation signal to punch through." he glanced over his shoulder. "All right, Rick, let's get going."

"Roger that, Major," Rick replied, and threw the jeep into gear. Putting his foot to the floorboards, the jeep leapt forward, tires screeching as it took off at an acceleration much higher than normally recommended for that particular vehicle.

It soon became clear that either the Orb troops were unaware of the fate that had befallen the unit sent to intercept the escapees, or they were too busy securing the building itself to worry about any stragglers, for no fire came at the rapidly escaping vehicle… something for which the occupants were grateful, considering how bad their evening had already been.

"Okay," Kira said now, "I can see why you can't set it off by radio… but if not, how are you going to do it? I know you know how to _use_ a gun, Ken, but I also know you're not good enough to hit something that far away, from a moving vehicle, with a pistol."

"Very true," Ken agreed, lifting up a section of firearm from the case. "But I'm not going to be using a pistol at all."

He held up the piece… and Kira's eyes widened in dawning realization as he recognized the disassembled Heckler & Koch PSG1 sniper rifle Ken had long carried with him, as far back as Heliopolis. Kira had always assumed it was just an antique Ken had picked up at some point in the past, given his pronounced distaste for firearms, but now…

"As it happens," the ace continued, now swiftly assembling the rifle, "I'm not much good with a handgun beyond, say, five meters. In my Recon training, however, I did discover that I excel at one thing: sniping." He fitted the barrel in place on the receiver, then began work attaching the scope. "I've never particularly enjoyed it -you know how I feel about killing on foot- but I am _very_ good at it."

On further reflection, Kira realized that it did at least make a certain amount of sense. Ken was known for his self-control, a trait which would be highly valuable for a sniper, and his heightened sense of spatial awareness obviously didn't hurt, either. _And it would explain those stories I heard about him during the Equatorial Union Civil War…_

A distant roaring got both pilots' attention, causing them to look up from the business at hand; at the same time, Rick checked the dashboard display for the jeep's small thermal detection unit, and winced. "Here they come, Major!" he called over his shoulder. "Murasames are coming up from Moriyama Air Base; _Odin_ and _Minerva _just appeared on scanners, too, and I think that's what they're heading for!"

Ken closed his eye. "Then it's time." Turning completely around in his seat, he rested the heavy sniper rifle on top of the backrest, and pulled its stock tight against his shoulder. "Range, Rick?"

The older soldier glanced at the map display, and his mouth tightened. "Four hundred meters, Major. It's gonna be close."

"Good enough. As long as we don't get flash-fried by it ourselves…" Ken took several deep breaths, slowing his heartbeat and dampening his adrenaline levels… while trying not to think about the number of Orb soldiers who were about to be incinerated.

_Find the center, _the Demon Lord told himself, focusing on his martial arts training. _Shut out everything but the task at hand; reduce all to numbers and battle strategies. Cut down on your view until past and future vanish, leaving only the moment… and the objective._

Peering intently in the scope with his normal eye, he swept his gaze across the outer wall of Section Nine's local headquarters. Here and there, he could see moving shapes through windows; Orb soldiers and police, tending to their own wounds and doubtless searching for any files they possibly could. _And no doubt they _will _find some confidential information,_ the Demon Lord acknowledged inwardly. _But it's not going to matter much longer, because none of that data is leaving that building…_

He'd designed most of the building personally; it had been part of his own recuperation, after the grinding stress of the long War. As such, he knew every support beam and cross-connection, every wall and floor… and the location of every single explosive built into the structures framework.

The scope's crosshairs finally settled on one precise point, located at the junction of two sections of floor and two walls. Nothing unusual could be seen from the outside, but the Demon Lord knew precisely what was hidden just centimeters beyond the outer wall there, and that the 7.62mm bullets of his PSG1 would breach that particular spot quite easily.

Taking another deep breath, he let half of it out, and gently increased pressure on the trigger. "Fire in the hole," he whispered… and the rifle thumped against his shoulder, emitting a sharp bark from the muzzle as a single bullet cracked downrange.

Kira had to avert his eyes, and even Ken closed his visible eye as the bullet slammed into the HQ's wall less than a second after leaving the barrel. Smashing into the key explosive hidden at that juncture, it first blossomed into a small ball of flame… and then, as the reaction cascaded for several hundredths of a second, the entire building blew apart, windows exploding outward in lethal clouds of glass shards, walls breaking apart and then vanishing in the heat, incinerated by the wall of flame erupting from every key structural point.

In that instant, over a hundred Seiran-loyalist soldiers died, along with a handful of "untainted" troops with the bad luck to be too close to the cataclysm. Obliterated in an instant, none of them even had time to realize anything was happening; only those over three hundred meters from the blast front could see what had happened, and they could do nothing but stare in utter shock and horror.

The expanding ball of raging fire could be seen from orbit, let alone by the Murasames attempting to intercept _Minerva_ and _Odin,_ and also served to overload any thermal sensors pointed even close to it. A raging inferno hot enough to melt concrete, it was suddenly a far more pressing concern than any ship trying to get away from the scene.

_…Whoa,_ a corner of Kira's mind thought, as he finally turned to look back at what had been, moments before, a sizable structure. _Ken really_ doesn't _do anything by halves, does he?_ he thought, almost as shocked as the victims by the sheer violence of the event. _…I'm surprised anybody could work in that place every day without having a nervous breakdown just from knowing about those bombs…_

Ken started to turn away from the fires, his task finished, and opened his mouth to speak to Rick… at which point his headset came to life, the jamming halted by the immense blast. _"Boss,"_ Thomas Delaney said, _"I'm glad I finally got through to you. We've got problems."_

The Demon Lord went very, very still. "What kind of 'problems', Tom?" he asked carefully. "The Orb suits heading your way just-"

_"We just received a message from Saito, Boss,"_ Tom interrupted. _"He's still playing sky patrol… and he just transmitted Bounty Four-One."_

Ken's blood ran cold, and, as the inferno that had once been Section Nine's local headquarters continued to burn, he looked up at the night sky… and saw, high in the distance, the distinctive shapes of falling mobile suits.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Flight Deck

* * *

Sitting inside the open cockpit of Strike Noir, Millenia waited patiently for the eventual order to launch, gaving no outward sign that her internal systems had detected a large explosion coming from the direction of Section Nine Headquarters. She knew that Ken had a hand with that big bang. 

She was inwardly surprised when the loud blare of warning about mobile suits being detected descending from outer space sounded, but it was momentary as a dark smile formed on her face as the female pilot figured out who was dropping the mobile suits.

"Wonderful, just wonderful," Millenia said out loud to herself, and got the attention of Madd Aves, who was doing some last minute pre-battle check-up on the Strike Noir, and saw the uncharacteristic grin on the face of _Minerva_'s mobile suit commander.

Ever since her transfer to _Minerva,_ their enigmatic mobile suit commander very rarely showed any emotion, and when she did, it came out as hollow and almost machine-like. Curiosity got the better of the head mechanic, and he decided to bite the bullet.

"What's wonderful, Commander?" he asked; after hearing the warning, Aves was wondering if something was wrong with Millenia by her reaction to such dire news.

"Those E.A. bastards," answered Millenia as she looked at Aves, who involuntary shivered under those penetrating eyes, "I have to give it those racist idiots…such a splendid declaration of war…"

Aves half expected Millenia to break out in mad laughter, but when only silence settled between the two, he mumbled some excuse to her and made himself scarce. However, he was still able to hear one last thing from her before she closed the cockpit

"I guess I have to oblige them and kill them all…"

* * *

Author's Note:

* * *

In the wake of Cagalli Yula Athha's resignation as Orb's Chief Representative and denouncement of the World Security Treaty Organization on worldwide television, things have finally begun to move ahead once more. Able now to act without even the slightest interference, Unato Ema Seiran has set into motion an attempt to destroy ZAFT's most powerful ship and the entirety of Section Nine… only to discover how dangerous a cornered fox truly is. 

With the ground battle won by the defenders at great cost, the next phase of the engagement is about to begin…

For further information regarding Ken's first encounter with Saito, by the way, read Wild Goose 01's _Beware the Left Eye_, a very interesting melding of my work, Ominae's, and a certain aspect of Ghost in the Shell in one unique package.

I'm not going to bother making any excuses for the lateness of this chapter. Those of you who have checked my profile recently know why already; for those of you who don't, a very close member of my family died while I was writing this chapter, thereby greatly delaying its completion. Moreover, I cannot guarantee swift updates for the foreseeable future, due to the current situation.

At any rate, I have, least, finally finished this installment. It was originally intended to encompass the mobile suit battles as well, but I discovered along the way that to do so would be to write a chapter some forty thousand words long, as well as delay its completion for at least another month. Nonetheless, I hope it was at least interesting… and I think I can safely say that it was anything but slow. Well, let me know how it was, either way. -Solid Shark


	13. Chapter 13: Sojourn

-1I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

Also, all references to characters and events from the Equatorial Union Civil War are property of Ominae; for further information, see his story "Rebellion"

* * *

Section Nine Orbital Base, Launch Bay, February 25th, C.E. 74

* * *

Among a row of twenty-three otherwise identical machines, one unit stood apart. Unlike the others, which were clearly in varying stages of final combat prep, a single fighter-like craft was fully combat-ready… which, under the circumstances, was very fortunate.

One of exactly two fully-outfitted TRVF-51A Fianna mobile weapons in Section Nine's inventory, the sleek craft now came to life with a low whine, its air-breathing turbines spinning up just enough to provide power to taxi out of its parking spot, as well as begin to bring its main reactor to full output.

Inside the currently gray machine's cockpit, a blonde-haired man with full beard and mustache, clad in Section Nine gray, sat in the pilot's couch, bringing its systems live. "This is Morgan," he reported over his link to launch control. "Auxiliary power online; I'm taxiing toward the catapult. Main reactor coming up now."

"_Roger that, Morgan,"_ Nicol Amalfi replied, from the control room overlooking the bay. _"Is everything going smoothly?"_

"So far," Morgan Chevalier assured him. "We'll know more in a few minutes, when I get this bird out into space. Main power is now online," he added. "Closing air intakes, and switching to internal power for taxi."

"_Roger that."_ In the background, Nicol could be heard to tap quickly on the launch control console. _"All personnel have been evacuated from the launch bay; preparing to open main hatch."_

"Understood."

The Fianna rolled across the deck, carried along by magnetic landing wheels, and slid with increasing ease through the depressurizing bay, past the other, still unready machines. A weapon intended for many and varied environments, its current configuration appeared as that of an atmospheric fighter, right down to the exposed canopy, wings, and tail surfaces… an appearance that, hopefully, would deceive its opponents into misinterpreting its true nature.

"Fission reaction stable," Morgan reported presently, one hand guiding the craft while the other continued the preflight startup. "Flight surfaces responding smoothly; all components are fully powered. Now activating VPS armor."

As he spoke, the Fianna's surface shimmered, going from the basic slate-gray of a Section Nine machine without active PSA to a perfectly-reflective, silvery sheen, ideal for reflecting the coming heat of reentry. That was one of several reasons Section Nine had chosen Variable Phase Shift instead of one of the more basic versions of the armor system: the ability to alter the Fianna's color scheme at will would be valuable for any number of applications, from reflecting heat to camouflaging the unit. The latter capability also made it an inexpensive substitute for the Mirage Colloid employed for the same purpose by other mobile suits.

"_I hope there aren't any Earth Forces machines patrolling around here,"_ Nicol said worriedly, watching the machine's cosmetic alteration. _"The base isn't very visible, and we're operating under EMCON, but that scheme is going to stand out like a beacon to anybody looking in the right direction…"_

"Relax, Nicol," Morgan advised him, finishing the preflight with a last, hard jab at the instrument panel. "They won't have any G-weapons out here -those things'll be on _Dominion_- and anything short of that will be a piece of cake for this bird. The Earth Forces haven't yet built an MP model that can handle a Fianna, so if anything turns up, I'll just fry it."

Nicol wasn't entirely mollified. _"Maybe… but the only battle data we have for a Fianna is from Saito's sniper model, and that's so new we haven't even had time to look at it, let alone analyze it. Besides which, that was in atmosphere, where he could rely on his turbines; you'll have to use the burners just to get down there, and after that-"_

The Moonlight Mad Dog snorted. "You worry too much, Nicol. Okay, so we haven't tested the standard model under combat conditions, but we've put it through everything short of that in exercises. Everything's going to be fine."

"_If you say so…"_ Nicol almost said more, then closed his mouth, shrugged, and decided Morgan wasn't going to listen to him anyway._"Opening launch bay hatch; prepare to deploy at your discretion."_

"Roger that." Ahead of the Fianna, the launch bay's enormous hatch split open, revealing the starry black of space. "Releasing magnetic lock now."

With a thud -inaudible in the now-depressurized bay- the Fianna's landing gear released their grip on the deck, and smoothly folded into the machine's fuselage. Now nothing remained to impede Morgan's launch into the black abyss of the endless night…

"All right, then," the pilot murmured. "Here goes nothing… Activating plasmaburners now."

Deep within the mobile weapon's fuselage, powerful plasma generators -much like Freedom's plasma cannons, but on a much larger scale- came to life, fed by the power of the machine's nuclear fission reactor, and generated twin streams of raw plasma down their conduits, erupting out of the Fianna's twin engine nozzles with a silent roar of raw power. The flow was slow and steady at first, only beginning to nudge the Fianna out the bay… but that would change soon enough.

"Commander Morgan Chevalier," the pilot said formally, hands firmly on throttle and stick, "piloting TRVF-51A Fianna. I'm heading out!"

"_Understood, Commander,"_ Nicol replied, equally formal. _"Good luck out there."_

"Thanks." Without another word, Morgan slid the throttle forward, increasing the plasma flow… and the Fianna leapt out into space, riding twin jets of flame, and scorched through the eternal night toward the boundary between black and brilliant blue…

* * *

Orb Union, Beneath Reverend Malchio's Orphanage, Section Nine Harbor

* * *

Athrun Zala stepped out of the concealed elevator into the hidden harbor with his head held high, and a determination in his heart that he'd not felt in over two years.

Flanked by Cagalli Yula Athha and Murrue Ramius, he walked toward the now-bustling dock, noting peripherally that several silver-uniformed parties loading equipment and supplies onto the white ship berthed there; to one side he could see Chief Warrant Officer Kojiro Murdoch -clad in a gray version of his old coveralls- ranting at his engineers, as they hauled what looked like Preybird spares off a truck bed and dragged it toward the ship.

Behind him, Murrue and Cagalli also took note of another addition to the bustle, and soon wore identical grimaces, for there were now a number of men and women hurrying about in the slate-gray bodysuits of Section Nine combat uniform… and many of them, particularly the rear-echelon personnel, were clearly wounded, some of them seriously.

"Bastards," Cagalli muttered under her breath. "Unato, I swear you won't long survive our return. We may be retreating now, but we'll be back, and when we are, you'll pay for what you've done. _All_ of what you've done…"

"Yes, he will," Murrue agreed softly. "These actions are well beyond the pale…"

Athrun, however, paid little attention to any of it. He'd seen the mobile suit's the Earth Forces had deployed, and knew that, for all their ungainliness on land, they would make very short work indeed of anything currently above ground.

Which was why he had eyes only for Section Nine Mobile Assault Ship LCAM-X01XA _Archangel,_ the graceful white ship that had once been battered nearly to scrap by war, and now, once again pristine, prepared to launch into battle once again.

As they neared the _Archangel_'s nearest airlock, Athrun paused, turning to his companions. "I'll head directly for the hangar," he said flatly. "Commander Le Creuset and Dearka have probably finished getting Justice ready by now; I want to launch as soon as possible, before those Forbiddens realize something's wrong."

Murrue nodded. "Understood, Athrun. We'll see you after we've reached safer waters, then."

Athrun smiled briefly, nodded, and headed off; though before he disappeared into the ship, Cagalli called, "Don't even _think_ about getting killed out there, got that, Athrun? I won't be the one to tell Lacus you got shot!"

The pilot merely shook his head minutely. "That's not going to be a problem," he said simply, and vanished through the hatch.

"Considering the look on his face," Murrue mused, "I somehow don't doubt that at all." _In fact,_ she thought, _I have a feeling that Justice is going to have very, very little trouble with the incoming mobile suits…_

It had been over two years since she'd last seen a fire like that in Athrun Zala's eyes, but she recognized it, and knew that the ex-ZAFT pilot wasn't about to let _anything_ get in the way of protecting those he cared for.

Murrue's thoughts were interrupted by footsteps coming from behind. "Excuse me, Captain," the newcomer said, "but the Major instructed me to report in as soon as you arrived here."

She turned, and sighed in relief, recognizing an officer from Section Nine Headquarters itself. "Togusa," she said with a nod. "I'm glad to see you. Can you tell me just what's been going on since we lost contact with Headquarters?"

"Prime Minister Seiran has finally acted, Ma'am," Togusa replied wearily; it was only then that Murrue realized the brown-haired man's head was bandaged, and blood stained a patch on his coveralls. "He dispatched approximately one hundred SWAT officers to HQ at 1900 this evening, with orders to arrest the Major… and kill any who resisted."

Cagalli swore under her breath. "That bastard… I'm guessing Ken didn't take that very well, either, am I right?"

"Correct, Ma'am," he confirmed. "I'm not entirely sure what went down myself, except that the confrontation in the Major's officer ended badly; after that, they stormed the building, bringing heavy weapons with them." He winced. "It was… bad. I don't think anyone has a full casualty count, but I know our losses were heavy. I counted at least twenty dead analysts myself, and we lost several field agents during the escape."

"And Ken himself?" Murrue said sharply. "And Kira?"

"Alive," Togusa answered, a thin, unpleasant smile appearing on his face. "Last I heard, they linked up with a few other field agents, got the remaining noncombatants out… and executed Omega Contingency."

She sighed. "Well, I can't say I like that we've lost HQ, but at least they're safe… Where are they going now, Togusa?"

"They're currently en route to rendezvous with _Odin,_ Captain," he replied. "The Major's last message was garbled by the interference, but I think he intends to launch in Preybird as soon as he's aboard."

"There's more to this than just those Forbidden Vortexes, Murrue," Cagalli said quietly, eyes suddenly worried. "Ken wouldn't launch like that if he didn't have reason to believe there were more forces incoming… especially since he can't even know about our problems yet."  
"Agreed," Murrue said grimly. "That means we need to rendezvous with _Odin_ ourselves, so as to get Freedom to Kira… Togusa, get your people aboard; we need to expedite our launch."

Togusa nodded, snapping a quick salute. "I'm on it, Captain." Turning, he trotted back toward the Headquarters contingent, already calling out new orders.

Cagalli turned to Murrue. "This is bad," she said softly. "I think there's more to this than we expected, Murrue; Unato's being even more brazen than I ever thought he would… and I _don't_ think he'd be doing that if he didn't have some kind of backing."

"Like more Earth Forces intervention," Murrue murmured. "Maybe a fleet waiting somewhere offshore…?"

"It's worse than that, Murrue."

The two women turned back to the ship, from which Rau Le Creuset was emerging, an intent expression on his face. "Is there something new, Rau?" Murrue asked warily. "What, exactly, could be _worse_ than an Earth Forces fleet waiting for us?"

"We just got a message from Saito," he replied grimly, "relayed from_Odin_ by laser-link. It was a Bounty Four-One warning, Murrue."

She swore softly under her breath. "Incoming mobile suits from orbit," she muttered. "And… maybe more than that?" Without waiting for a reply, she resumed her progress toward the _Archangel,_ Cagalli falling into step at her side.

"Yes," Rau agreed, when they'd caught up with him, "it's apparently more than that. Saito wasn't able to give details, but _Odin_ reports a great deal of weapons fire at high altitude… and KI strikes impacting on the water."

Cagalli cursed vilely. "Kinetic strikes… We have to launch now, before they get lucky and hit _this_ place; I know Ken arranged for a lot of reinforcement, but a crowbar from orbit isn't going to be good."

"I know." Murrue sighed, stepping up to _Archangel_'s hatch. "And we've only got four fully-operational mobile suits aboard right now… Well, no help for it. We need to get out of the harbor, deal with those Forbidden Vortexes, and get out of here."

_Here's hoping we can rendezvous with _Minerva_ and_ Odin_ in time,_ she thought soberly. _Alone, we'll be destroyed; only together can we hope to survive this…_

_Ken, you've _got_ to hurry…_

* * *

Orb, Izanagi Island, Coastline

* * *

A single jeep skidded to a halt at the side of the coastal road, and three men clambered out of it hurriedly. "They'll be here shortly," Ken DiFalco noted, hauling his sniper rifle out of the jeep. "Rick, blow the jeep; we can't take it with us, and I don't feel like giving the Seirans even a drop of gasoline, let alone an entire jeep."

Richard Yamato Chung grinned. "You got it, Major." A citizen of the Equatorial Union, he'd acquired a dislike for Unato Ema Seiran fully as deep as any native-born Orb citizen since joining Section Nine. The prospect of adding insult to injury appealed to him greatly.

Standing closer to the road's edge than his companions, Rick's cousin Kira Yamato stared out to sea, sadness in his heart. _To think it's come to this,_ he thought gloomily. _We've had to kill more Orb soldiers and police today than I'd like to think about… and we're going to have to kill a lot _more_ people before nightfall, from what Ken's been saying._

He'd never heard the code "Bounty Four-One" before, but he knew in general terms what it meant; and even Kira Yamato was disinclined to risk disabling attacks under such circumstances. As he'd finally learned, late in the First War, there were simply times when it was either kill or be killed.

And, like Ken, he was beginning to lose sympathy for those who brought it upon themselves. He would never be as comfortable with it as his mentor clearly was, but neither would he spare to much pity for the likes of the Seiran loyalists… or the soldiers of the Earth Alliance.

Kira was distracted from his moody reverie before too long, as the distinctive sound of twin propellers reached his ears. "Ken," he called over his shoulder, "I think they're here."

Ken glanced up from his task -he was in the middle of disassembling his PSG-1- and looked out to sea. Sure enough, his eye quickly caught sight of both _Odin_ and the aircraft sent out from the ship;_Odin_ herself had her Igelstellungs deployed, with her lone Gottfried cannon clearly visible above deck. Anyone attempting to attack her now would be in for an unpleasant surprise.

The pilot of the transport, a slate gray, twin-engine tilt rotor aircraft, had clearly spotted them in turn, for the plane was angling directly toward them, and gradually slowing down. Its rotors tilted back to vertical, bringing the aircraft virtually to a halt a few feet above the ground.

A door in the tilt-rotor's side slid open, revealing a flight engineer in gray coveralls, waving at them. "Come aboard!" she shouted, over the noise of the rotors. "Captain Chance wants you aboard ship before any hostiles can readjust their thermal scanners to compensate for the explosion!"

"Roger that!" Ken waved Kira over, and turned back to the engineer. "Tell the pilot he'll be taking off again as soon as we've landed! We need to get Kira over to the _Archangel_ at the earliest possible moment!"

"Will do!" she acknowledged, giving him a thumbs-up.

Feeling slightly uncertain -his experience in the War not having included hasty evacuations via VSTOL aircraft- Kira took a running jump up toward the tilt-rotor's hatch. To his relief, he landed neatly on the lip of the hatch; and when his balance began to waver, the flight engineer caught his arm, hauling him more fully into the aircraft.

Ken was next. Having been through a number of training exercises -not to mention participating in a civil war without the aid of a mobile suit- he made it much more easily, his hand catching the edge of the hatch even as his feet came into contact with the cabin floor. Nodding to the engineer, he swung himself over to a seat against one wall.

Rick was last… and his leap came with a grin, for the moment he landed in the aircraft, he pushed the button on a small transmitter he was holding. Nothing happened just then… but he knew it wouldn't be long before a very satisfying explosion occurred.

Once all three evacuees were safely strapped in, the flight engineer turned toward the cockpit. "They're all aboard, Brian! Get us out of here before somebody notices and does something we wouldn't like!"

"Roger that!" The pilot turned to look into the cabin long enough to sketch an abbreviated salute to Ken, then returned his full attention to his controls. Beginning the shift back to horizontal flight, he fed more power into the rotors, increasing both speed and altitude as he turned back toward the ocean.

Sighing, Kira leaned back in his seat, grateful for the respite. _I don't think I've ever been through anything that physically exhausting in my life,_ he thought wearily. _Even Jachin I at least spent sitting down, not running all over a building while being shot at…_

"That wasn't very fun, Major," Rick commented, pulling a canteen off his belt and taking a swig of something Ken suspected was _not_ water. "First Seiran tries to arrest you, then he orders an invasion of our headquarters, and finally we blow headquarters sky high, after taking heavy casualties. Can this day possibly get _any_ worse?"

"I thought you knew better than that, Rick," Ken replied, tugging at his gasmask, "especially after that fracas in your own country. Surely a civil war must've taught you that it can _always_ get worse… especially when you already know for a fact that reinforcements are on their way down from orbit."

Rick started to reply… only to cut himself off when he noticed the flight engineer's expression. She was staring in astonishment at Ken, who had just removed his gasmask completely; it was only then that Rick recalled that "the Major's" identity was not widely known even within Section Nine.

"C-Commander DiFalco?!" the engineer said, in utter disbelief. _"You're_ the Major?!"

Ken blinked in mild surprise of his own; he wasn't used to being recognized, considering the suppression of his records… but then, of course, he _was_ a fairly familiar face around Orb, and now that he thought of it, the flight engineer in question had once crewed aboard _Odin,_ during the First War.

"…Yeah," the ace said at last, with a very faint smile, "I'm him. How I got here is a long story; why I'm not bothering to hide myself now is a somewhat shorter one. I don't imagine it's going to matter much longer, what with the outbreak of a new war." He glanced over at Kira. "By the time all this is done, I have a feeling we're all going to be in the spotlight again…"

* * *

Section Nine Mobile Assault Ship LCAM-X01XA _Archangel,_ Bridge

* * *

For the first time in two and a half years, Murrue Ramius stepped onto the bridge of the _Archangel_ in the full expectation of entering battle… and somehow, despite the grave danger, she felt right at home in the situation, almost as though greeting an old friend.

An old, _cranky_ friend, at least.

She'd taken the time to change before coming to the bridge, but unlike in the old days, she'd not donned a uniform. Instead, after quickly shedding her civilian outfit, Murrue had pulled on a set of gray, formfitting coveralls similar to Section Nine's flightsuits, with light body armor in the torso, knees, and elbows, and a helmet tucked under her arm. The outfit was one of the changes she and Ken -with the input of others in the new organization- had made to the ship's procedures between the Wars; functioning primarily to give some protection against secondary explosions and shrapnel, the suit could also be sealed and function as a pressure suit in the event the ship lost pressure when submerged.

Already occupying the command chair at the center was a woman with short black hair and amethyst eyes, wearing a similar suit with the insignia of a full commander. Upon realizing Murrue's presence, however, Natarle Badgiruel sprang to her feet, snapping off a salute. "Captain on deck!" she announced crisply.

As other members of the bridge crew began to rise, Murrue waved a hand. "As you were, people. I'm glad we're all back together again, but we've got a job to do before can have a proper reunion." Stepping to Natarle's side, she smiled at the younger woman. "It's good to see you, Natarle. Is everything in order?"

"So far, Captain," Natarle assured her. "We've already begun preparing for departure; and I believe I stand relieved, Ma'am."

"Yes, I believe you do, Commander." Clasping her exec's hand briefly, Murrue settled into the command chair with an odd sense of nostalgia, while Natarle walked down to her old position in the Combat Information Center, below and behind the captain's chair.

Murrue took a moment then to take in her bridge crew, noting with a flush of pride the familiar faces around her. At the helm, violet-haired Lieutenant Arnold Neumann looked as professional and competent as ever in his new combat uniform; he was quietly bringing his console live, checking engine power levels, and generally getting ready for the combat maneuvers ahead.

Looking to his left, Murrue felt an old, familiar pang. Once it would've been Crewman First Class Tolle Koenig sitting at the copilot's station, resplendent in a blue Earth Alliance uniform… but those days had ended in the Marshall Islands, when Tolle made an ill-advised attempt to aid GAT-X105 Strike against GAT-X303 Aegis, and paid with his life. Now his place was usually empty, though today Commodore Andrew Waltfeld occupied the position, helping Neumann prep the ship for launch.

Above, behind, and slightly to Murrue's right was Chief Warrant Officer Romero Pal. Like Natarle and Neumann, he was a veteran of _Archangel_'s original crew, having occupied the fire-control station from the day the ship left Heliopolis onward; he worked his console with the ease and competence of a great deal of experience, much of it under heavy fire.

To Murrue's mild surprise and definite pleasure, the communications station opposite Pal was also occupied, in this case by a red-haired, blue-eyed young woman. "Flay Allster?" Murrue said, pleased. "I didn't expect to see you here! I thought you and Sai were going into hiding…?"

"We did, Captain," Flay replied, with a small smile. "But we kept in touch, and maintained reserve commissions. I'm a lieutenant, now."

"Well, welcome back aboard," the captain told her, with a smile of her own. "This crew just wouldn't be complete without you two." She was also pleased to note the professionalism in the teenager's voice and manner; the girl had come a long way from the airhead socialite who had first come aboard _Archangel,_ and even the vindictive manipulator that had emerged after the death of George Allster. _A very long way, indeed…_

Continuing her turn to look into CIC, Murrue first saw Chief Petty Officer Jackie Tonomura, manning sensors. An unassuming man in his mid-twenties, she knew from long experience that his skills were top-notch, however quiet he might normally be.

To his right, at one of the Electronic Warfare stations, was another familiar face from _Archangel_'s group of civilian volunteers. Now wearing Section Nine combat uniform, with the insignia of a Petty Officer 1st Class, blonde-haired Sai Argyle still wore his trademark orange-tinted glasses. He caught Murrue's gaze, and responded with a small smile and a nod; though he'd never quite regained his original relationship with Flay, the two remained close, with Sai having made the decision to stay by her side as long as he could. In that way, he could at least see that she remained safe…

Opposite Tonomura was Chief Warrant Officer Dalida Lolaha Chandra II, at the other EW station. Another Heliopolis veteran, his duties had originally included riding herd on the volunteers; now he simply worked his magic with Electronic Countermeasures, trusting Sai to handle ECCM.

To his left, rounding out _Archangel_'s usual bridge crew, was Lieutenant Miriallia Haw. Like Murrue, she'd changed into combat gear, and occupied her old position at flight control with an air of quiet competence. As the officer in charge of launch and retrieval, as well as relaying information and orders to and from the ship's complement of mobile suits, hers was a crucial job, but for all her youth she was also highly experienced at the job; she would no more fail in her duties than anyone else aboard.

Finally turning back toward the bow, Murrue's gaze settled on the last figure on the bridge, and her smile widened. Sitting at the infrequently-used flag chair on the port side of the bridge was a woman with hair as black as Natarle's, but much longer, and accented with emerald eyes. Wearing the insignia of a full commander, she was another old _Archangel_ hand, in addition to being Murrue's best friend… and Ken DiFalco's adopted sister.

Sophia DiFalco caught Murrue's eye, and grinned. "Long time no see, Murrue. How's it going?"

"Better now than it was ten minutes ago," Murrue admitted. "We had quite the firefight upstairs… Where have you been, anyway? I haven't seen you in, what, six months?"

The engineer/pilot shrugged. "Been busy, that's all. I was running an analysis on Tempest's remains up at HQ, then got sidetracked hunting down a lead on Metzinger; we never did figure out what his ultimate objective was, remember." She grimaced. "Nothing came of it, unfortunately… but at least I got something of a vacation out of it. Anyway, I got back to Orb just in time to hear you and Falcon were trying to get the crew back together, so I figured I should hurry up and get aboard."

"Well, your timing is much appreciated, Sophia." Murrue frowned thoughtfully. "I don't suppose you'll be able to assist in the coming battle yourself?"

Sophia shook her head regretfully. "I'm afraid not, Murrue. I wasn't expecting this, so my machine is still up at HQ… in about a hundred pieces, being overhauled. No, this one I'll have to leave to the others."

Though mildly chagrined by the news, Murrue wasn't especially surprised. She knew Sophia had been intending to switch to one of Section Nine's new Fiannas, especially after the amount of damage the Hyperion had suffered in various engagements during the First War. _And she'd have had time to do it, too, if this hadn't come up so soon… Well, there's no use worrying about it just now._

Turning back to the bow, Murrue's gaze went to Andy and Neumann. "What's our status, people? How soon can we move out?"

"Reactor levels coming up swiftly, Captain," Neumann reported, watching as the gauges on his display smoothly rose toward full power. "Radiation levels within acceptable tolerances; power levels nearly nominal. We'll be ready in ninety seconds."

"Excellent. Miriallia," she went on, glancing down into CIC, "send the signal to flood the harbor. We're moving out as soon as all personnel are aboard."

"On it, Ma'am." Mir's fingers danced across her control board, sending a prearranged signal to the harbor's central computer; with all personnel evacuated aboard _Archangel,_ everything would be handled by automated systems… much as a number of the _Archangel_'s own systems had been managed by computer, in the early days after Heliopolis.

"Togusa reports all personnel aboard, Captain," Flay reported. "All hatches now secure." She paused uncertainly. "He… also reports a civilian came aboard with them, Ma'am. A Sasaki Kojiro…?"

Murrue raised an eyebrow. "Ken's master? Well, it's true he wouldn't have a very secure life in Orb from here on out, any more than the rest of us… I suppose giving him a lift out of here is the least we can do, considering how much he's done for Ken. Anything else?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Flay's voice turned grim. "Reverend Malchio called to inform us that the Forbidden Vortexes have made landfall, and are approaching our position."

The captain took a deep breath. "Then it looks like we're acting not a moment too soon. Arnold?"

"Reactor levels nominal, Captain," Neumann said promptly. "Harbor pressure has equalized with the surrounding ocean; we can proceed at any time."

"Very well. Miriallia, signal the harbor exit to open."

"Roger that, Captain." Mir typed quickly at her console again, this time sending a much briefer signal. "Order confirmed, outer hatch is opening."

Visible through the forward viewport, the hidden hangar's massive hatch began to split open at the center. Tinted blue by the surrounding water, the crack yawned open, revealing the darker ocean beyond… an ocean that was once hostile to the _Archangel,_ but would now be her safe haven. With the ship modified for submersible travel, she could outfight anything she couldn't outrun, and hide from anything she couldn't outfight.

Considering how much trouble they'd had crossing the Indian Ocean three years before, the change was a very welcome one for all concerned… all, that was, except the enemy.

With a _clang_ that could be felt through the very hull of the ship, the halves of the hatch slid solidly into place at the top and bottom of the hangar, the opening between now wide enough for the mobile assault ship to pass through.

Murrue would've preferred to give the order to depart right then and there, but there yet remained one detail to be certain of. "Flay… are the self-destruct charges in place?"

Flay nodded soberly. "Affirmative, Captain. Once we're clear of the harbor, the charges will be active; according to the Major's estimates, they'll be enough to bring the harbor ceiling down without damaging the orphanage above."

"Good. The last thing we want is for the Seirans or the Earth Alliance to get their hands on this facility. Things are going to be rough enough as it is…"

The captain couldn't say she was looking forward to the prospect. She and Ken had made a home in Orb; for the both of them, it was the first time since the War had started that they had truly been able to make themselves at home… and now they had to abandon it, while simultaneously destroying millions of dollars of Section Nine equipment and infrastructure. Everything they'd done here would be gone, as though it had never existed in the first place…

_But we can rebuild,_ she told herself. _Once all this is over, we can come back, and rebuild anew. As long as we're still alive, there's hope for the future…_

Captain Murrue Ramius, Section Nine, took a deep breath. "Lieutenant Neumann," she called out, "launch _Archangel!"_

"Right away, Ma'am!" Arnold Neumann eased his throttle control forward, and SNS _Archangel_'s engines growled to life, pouring raw plasma out into the harbor. Their power levels slowly climbing, they pushed against the water… and _Archangel_ stirred into motion at last, inching slowly forward.

In moments, the rate of acceleration began to climb, propelling the ship ever faster, and soon the _Archangel_ slid neatly through the hatch into the open ocean, driving toward her renewed destiny…

* * *

Orb Union, Coastline Near Reverend Malchio's Orphanage

* * *

Seven deep-blue mobile suits ascended the slope leading up toward the orphanage, their mission one of destruction… and one that already seemed to be having a few problems.

"Still no word from Johnson's team," Major Eric Tanner muttered, frowning. "Something must've happened… but _what?_ This mission should've been no trouble at all for his team; one soldier who hates firearms and a pop star should've been easy enough to deal with…"

Troubled, the Special Forces major led his team of Forbidden Vortexes up the slope toward the mansion, half-expecting to encounter hostile fire at any moment. What should've been a simple assassination job had become something very different, in ways that Tanner couldn't yet understand, and that made him very nervous.

Admittedly, it was to be expected for _some_ unexpected things to happen when one of the targets was the Butcher Bird, but even he shouldn't have been able to wipe out an entire commando unit. He was known for being a veritable demon with a sword, but a sword was a poor weapon to use in a gunfight.

_But_something_ sure happened here; Johnson's too professional to be _this_ late reporting in unless something _really_ drastic happened…_

"Major," his exec, Captain Ray Duvall, called, coming into visual range of the orphanage, "it looks like something happened here. I'm seeing a lot of smoke from that building… but it also seems to be under control…"

Tanner walked over to the other Vortex's side, and his frown deepened as he himself examined the scene. The orphanage's front door had been blown away, along with a good-sized chunk of the surrounding wall; the display's magnification also showed a fair number of bullet holes from high-penetration weapons, in keeping with the Seburo PDWs the commando team had been issued.

Topping it all off was a hole in the roof that appeared to have resulted from an explosion on an upper floor… but other than the obvious destruction, there was no sign of any conflict at all. That would ordinarily have suggested that Johnson's people had succeeded in their mission, but if they had, they should've reported in…

"Well," Tanner murmured, more to himself than to his subordinates, "Johnson's team obviously got inside… but what happened _after_ that? If they completed their objectives, then why didn't they report in? And if they failed, then _why_ did they fail? What on earth did they run into in there?"

"Major! There's something happening out to sea!"

Startled by the rearmost Vortex's call, Tanner spun his own machine around to look… and his jaw dropped. "By all that's holy… It _can't_ be!"

The other members of the mobile suit team turned to look, resulting in several audible gasps over the radio. They'd originally been sent in merely to support the commando unit, just in case DiFalco had a mobile suit stashed nearby… but it now appeared their mission was going to be more difficult than they'd anticipated.

Rising out of the ocean, her red-trimmed white hull standing out against the evening darkness and growing cloud cover, was a ship whose distinctive appearance was known to almost everyone in the entire Earth Sphere. Her sleek, two-legged form was mirrored by three Earth Alliance ships… but they were all painted in the colors of the original _Dominion._ Even the _Asmodeus,_ built from only slightly modified plans for the class, was slate-gray. Only one ship in existence had that combination of form and color… and that ship was one that forces from both sides had learned to fear.

"The_Archangel,"_ Tanner whispered, in awe and faint terror. "She's still around…"

He swallowed hard, for the majestic ship was now turning gracefully to port, her course changing to face the beach… and her starboard catapult deck was opening.

* * *

SNS_Archangel,_ Starboard Catapult Deck

* * *

For the first time since September 26th, C.E. 71, a crimson mobile suit stood upon _Archangel_'s catapult deck, preparing to launch into battle. Its last significant act had been to obliterate GAT-X131 Calamity, along with its biological CPU Orga Sabnak; now it would fly again at last, against its traditional enemy.

Inside ZGMF-X09A Justice's cockpit, Athrun Zala ran his hands over his controls with practiced ease, noting with a corner of his mind that two and a half years of peace hadn't dulled his memories much. _I can't say I like remembering some of those battles,_ he thought distantly, bringing main power online, _but I'm glad I still remember what I'm doing. Those may only be Forbidden variants out there, but they could still do some damage, especially if they were allowed to reach the orphanage._

Even as he worked, the catapult's machinery was lowering Justice into place, while the catapult's outer hatch lifted open ahead of him._"Catapult systems coming up, Athrun,"_ Mir reported, from the bridge. _"Justice now connected to catapult. Power levels look steady from here; communications coming through fine. Everything's ready on our end."_

"Roger that." Athrun reached up to the gray helmet he wore, and slid his visor down. "Main reactor stable, all weapons ready, and Phase-shift online. Justice is ready for launch."

"_Understood. You're go for launch, Athrun. Be careful."_

"I will." Flexing his hands briefly over the controls, Athrun took a deep, calming breath… and touched the catapult launch switch. "Athrun Zala, Justice launching!"

Propelled forward by the linear catapult's electromagnetic field, the red machine known as Justice rushed forward, flashing down the length of the deck in seconds. In what seemed like an instant, Justice had been hurled into the sky, and Athrun spread the Fatum 00's wings; the powerful thrusters backing it flared to life, and Justice soared into the skies of battle once more…

* * *

Orb Union, Coastline Near Reverend Malchio's Orphanage

* * *

The moment he saw the crimson mobile suit emerge from _Archangel_'s catapult, Tanner blessed the foresight of the mission planners, who had taken the time to replace the phonon masers normally equipped on his teams' Vortexes with proper plasma cannons, in anticipation of having to quickly fry Preybird before it could get airborne.

_It may not matter much in the end,_ he admitted to himself, with an inner chill, _but at least it means we've got a fighting chance… and since these are Vortexes, not Deeps, we've got the TP armor to protect us against that thing's machine guns…_

That it was the Justice they were facing, Tanner didn't doubt; he'd seen enough combat footage of the machine in action to know that much. Unfortunately, it didn't do much for his confidence. Quite the opposite, in fact, considering the relative strengths of the mobile suits…

_But I still have a job to do._

"All pilots, scatter!" Tanner barked over the radio. "With our Geschmeidig Panzer and Trans-Phase armor systems, he'll have to use close-range energy weapons to hurt us at all. We still have a chance to burn him down before he gets that close!"

His convincingly-faked confidence was just what the situation called for. Snapped out of their temporary paralysis by their commander's barked orders, the Vortex pilots kicked off from the ground, engaging their thrusters to carry them into sustained flight. Though relatively sluggish in the air, it was far preferable to bumbling about on the ground; this way they'd at least have a chance of dodging.

And Athrun Zala could not care less.

Justice charged across the sky like an ancient knight in a joust, racing to meet his opponents. Seemingly oblivious to the pull of gravity, Athrun rolled Justice to one side, just as the first bolt of raw plasma sizzled toward him. The streak of red-orange fire burned harmlessly to his left, incinerating an unlucky seagull but otherwise having no effect at all.

Athrun's response was to put his machine through a full roll back to the left… during which he yanked out a beam saber, swung it back across to connect its hilt to that of the other, and ignited the resulting weapon. The double-ended blade flared to life in a staff of crimson energy, forming the melee weapon which had been the Red Knight's trademark during the First War.

Tanner cursed, seeing the weapon come to life. "That's Justice, all right; no doubt about it. Keep firing! Bring him down!"

He triggered his own plasma cannon then, adding his forearm-mounted machine guns to the barrage in hopes of at least damaging Justice's beam staff; his subordinates followed suit, unleashing a devastating sheet of plasma fire and tungsten penetrators. Practically covering the sky, very few pilots could hope to avoid such an intense salvo.

Athrun Zala was one of the few.

Raising his shield to protect his cockpit, Athrun powered right on through the barrage, jinking and weaving around the volley fire. A plasma bolt struck his shield, expending its energy in a spectacular but harmless spray of superheated matter; another scorched past within a meter of his right arm, and more bullets than he could count ricocheted off his PSA.

_It doesn't matter,_ a corner of his mind thought in a detached manner. _I've got nuclear power; if they're trying to wear me down, it's not going to work…_

It was with utter incredulity that Tanner cursed now, for the Justice was pulling maneuvers he hadn't believed were even possible. "That's got to be the original pilot in there," he muttered, watching in disbelief as Justice threw itself into a mad evasive pattern that left incoming fire in the dust. "Only someone completely familiar with it could possibly be doing that…" He trailed off then, eyes widening, as he realized where, exactly, Justice was heading. "Walsh! Watch it!"

The Vortex pilot he addressed yelled in mixed terror and anger, firing his plasma cannon desperately. Justice was heading right for him, and nothing he did seemed to matter; he tried angling his plasma bolts in ever more oblique firing arcs, but the red machine ducked and wove around each one, with almost casual ease. "Stop!" the Earth Forces pilot shouted. _"Don't come any close-!"_

His emerald eyes hard as flint, Athrun slapped one more plasma bolt aside with his shield, then spun his beam staff to his right in almost the same moment. The dual blade of crimson fire caught the Vortex in the left elbow, burning clear through TP armor, basic armor, and the underlying frame, before ripping out in a spray of blood-like hydraulic fluid. The arm fell away, leaving only a sparking stump… and Athrun reared back, before thrusting the blade straight forward.

Walsh had one moment in which to scream, and then the blade of frozen fire stabbed through his cockpit hatch, melting it like it wasn't even there, and vaporized him on contact. Seemingly not content with that, the blade drove all the way through his eat, penetrating clear to the machine's energy battery, and eventually emerging out the exhaust nozzle for the Vortex's main thruster.

The high-density battery's containment having been breached, it expended all its energy in a thoroughly uncontrolled manner, releasing it through the hole made by the saber even as Athrun withdrew the weapon. Racing through power conduits and the machine's basic structure alike, the uncontrolled burst was too much for the Vortex; glowing brightly for an instant, it ripped apart in a calamitous explosion, hurling fire and chunks of debris in all directions.

"Bastard!" Another Vortex, its pilot shocked and enraged by Walsh's explosive death, rushed forward, brandishing its trident as it charged across the sky toward Justice. _I know this won't hurt the machine itself,_ the pilot thought savagely, _but if I can just take out that beam staff, it won't be able to hurt _us_ at all!_

"No, you idiot!" Tanner shouted. "You're just going to get yourself-!"

The Vortex thrust with its trident, nearly striking the junction connecting the two sabers… and at that moment, Athrun moved.

What happened next occurred so fast Tanner almost didn't even see it. Justice drew back from attempted assault, yanking its weapon out of the trident's reach, then lashed out with a foot, catching the opposing weapon just below the tip. The trident's head snapped off, leaving the Vortex pilot gaping in shock… and then the beam staff came spinning forward again.

It came to a stop just above Justice's head, at which point Athrun hauled it straight down. "Take this!" Passing easily through the Geschmeidig Panzer barrier that would've defeated any long-range beam weapon, the staff's blade crashed down on the Vortex's head, and kept right on going in a shower of sparks, molten armor, and spraying hydraulic fluid.

Less than three seconds after its ill-advised attack on the Justice, the Forbidden Vortex flew apart, split from crown to navel, and blew itself to tiny pieces of shrapnel.

Tanner swore vilely under his breath. _Our intelligence was _way_ off this time,_ he thought bitterly. _We _might_ have succeeded in taking out Preybird in a surprise attack, but fighting the Justice on its own terms? The bastards in ONI screwed up big time… and_we're_ the ones who're going to pay for it with our lives._

Closing his eyes for what seemed like several minutes, but must only have been two or three seconds, Tanner made a decision… and flipped a switch on his instrument panel to begin transmitting all the combat data directly to the descent forces.

_We may be about to die, but not without making sure the idiots who planned this can't get away with such gross incompetence._

That done, Major Eric Tanner took a deep breath, and opened his communications line. "All units… attack at once."

It was a dangerous move. In fact, it was essentially a suicidal one, and under other circumstances Tanner would never have contemplated it, and his subordinates wouldn't have obeyed him if he had. But now they'd already lost two people, in a battle against a machine they all knew was far superior to the amphibious machines they were piloting. At this point, their only chance lay in overwhelming Justice through sheer numbers.

Two of the remaining five engaged simultaneously, coming in from two different angles to an attempt to sandwich Justice; after all, even it could only attack in one direction at a time, particularly with only its melee weapon available to it. If it could be overwhelmed, then they still had a chance of getting at least a couple of their number out of the engagement alive.

_I don't think so,_ Athrun thought, and moved.

With a burst of power from its thrusters, Justice darted straight up, breaking out of the flanking maneuver almost before it could begin. The move came so suddenly that the two Vortexes nearly slammed into each other before they could compensate; when no attack came from above, though, they took the initiative themselves, firing plasma bolts angled almost straight up.

That was when Justice began to fall from the sky, having cut all power to thrusters after climbing several hundred meters above them, in a move adapted from something Athrun had once seen Ken DiFalco do to the Blitz.

His shield sufficed to intercept the bolts of superheated matter, spattering them harmlessly in a small shower of sparks… and then, just as he reached the Vortexes' altitude again, he separated his sabers once more, holding one in each hand as he fell.

The sheer moment of Athrun's fall was enough to bring the sabers down on their respective targets with brutal force. His right-hand blade struck one Vortex in the right shoulder, then was dragged down by gravity, cleaving through metal, circuitry, and various oils with an audible tearing noise, before falling out through the Vortex's right leg.

While nearly half of that machine fell away and blew apart, his other saber struck the second Vortex toward the left edge of its subflight lifter, biting deep into it, before simply falling out the bottom in much the same way as the first blade.

At first, it appeared as though the only damage came from the sparking chunk of subflight lifter that was cut away, spraying hydraulic fluid on the way down… but in the instant its pilot began to sigh in relief, the damage done to his plasma cannon's power systems announced itself with a rapidly-spreading short circuit. A power surge flashed throughout the entire subflight lifter in two seconds flat, and the circular backpack erupted in flames, blasting most of its own upper surface off.

The concussion blasted the pilot into unconsciousness, shorted out its TP armor… and finished off its remaining flight systems.

The Vortex fell from the sky, hurtling toward a rendezvous with the ground that would destroy what remained of it from sheer impact shock.

Now ignoring his latest victims, Athrun's eyes narrowed… and his targeting systems came up. Keeping a close eye on his screen, he swapped out one saber for his rifle mid-fall, and waited for exactly the right moment to pull the trigger…

A bolt of coherent emerald light flashed across the sky, and Tanner's eyes went wide with disbelief as it speared one of his two remaining subordinates. The high-energy beam caught the Vortex in the pelvis, melted a smooth hole, and smashed its way upward, shattering layers of armor, power systems, and structural components on its way up through the mobile suit's torso. Along the way, it turned the Vortex's pilot to vapor before he even knew he'd been hit, then tore its way out through the machine's neck, blasting its head apart in the process.

The Vortex fell, a shattered hulk of its former self.

_He used the fall to bypass Ryan's Geschmeidig Panzer,_ Tanner realized, with unwilling admiration for the Coordinator's skills._He realized it couldn't cover the underside of the machine, and used that… quite the cunning bastard- what the?!_

Justice had reignited its thrusters an instant after triggering the fatal shot, and it now rose like a homesick meteor toward Ray Duvall's machine. Unlike the last poor soul, Duvall realized he was coming, and angling his weapons downward to fire desperately at the red machine… but Athrun Zala had not survived a duel with Rau Le Creuset's Providence by being a substandard pilot.

Smashing aside the one plasma bolt Duvall had time to fire with his shield, Athrun ignored the hail of bullets entirely, allowing them to ricochet off Justice in a staccato clatter; the vibrations they induced in his flight path were but minor annoyances… and far from enough to save Duvall.

Snapping his beam staff back together, Athrun flung the entire weapon ahead of him, sending it spinning upward, while simultaneously detaching his own subflight lifter. Resembling a wheel of pure energy, it struck the horrified Duvall's machine just above the joint before legs and torso, and rent its way clear through to the back in a spray of sparks, molten metal, and blood-like fluid. Duvall was killed instantly, and nearly-bisected machine followed him into death an instant later, vanishing in a bright ball of fire.

Tanner stared at the carnage, stunned. _I knew Justice was powerful,_ a corner of his mind thought, _but this kind of devastation is-_

The thought was interrupted forever, as a hail of gunfire and rapid-fire energy bolts from the Fatum 00, hovering directly behind him, smashed into his own subflight lifter. High-energy beams led the way, tearing gouges in the Trans-phase armor and metal beneath, and tungsten penetrators followed the path they made, chewing ever larger holes, and generally reducing the Vortex to scrap.

Never having had time to complete his incredulous thought, let alone scream, Major Eric Tanner was shredded by the bombardment, and his bullet- and beam-ridden Forbidden Vortex fell almost gracefully from the sky, now little more than a shattered hulk.

Where moments before, there had been the sounds of a fierce battle, now all that broke the silence was the _whoosh_ of Justice's engines, as its subflight lifter returned to its back, and the beam staff landed back in its hand. In the space of ninety seconds, seven mobile suits had been utterly annihilated… with no damage at all to the Red Knight.

Athrun Zala took a deep breath, and slowly relaxed his tight grip on his controls. _It's over,_ he thought, relieved. _It's been over two years… but I can still do it. I haven't lost my touch after all…_

His thoughts were interrupted when his radio crackled to life. _"Athrun,"_ Murrue called, _"you'd better get back; we need to rendezvous with _Minerva_ and _Odin…_ and it looks like we're going to have a rough time ahead of us even then."_

His blood ran cold at that. "…What do you mean, Murrue?"

"_According to sensors…"_ Murrue trailed off. _"Actually, it might be easier if you just looked up."_

Puzzled, Athrun did as she suggested, turning Justice's optics toward the heavens… and his stomach clenched, recognizing the distinctive shapes of mobile suits, mobile suit orbital insertion pods, and an_Archangel_-class mobile assault ship.

The true thrust of the assault had finally arrived.

* * *

Section Nine Escort Ship _Odin,_ Hangar

* * *

It was with a sense of relief that Ken stepped off the tilt-rotor onto_Odin_'s deck; like many pilots, there were few things he hated more than to be a passenger, leaving his fate up to another pilot. It pained him not have control over his own fate, even for such a brief period.

The other reason for his relief became obvious to his companions a moment later, when the ace stepped to one side and vomited everything he'd eaten that day.

Rick Chung winced, glancing away. "Yuck," was his only comment… though he could think of several other uncomplimentary things to say, none of which would've been wise when speaking to his organization's commanding officer.

Straightening uncomfortably, Ken swallowed hard, forcing himself not to dry heave. "I've never gotten used to killing up close and personal," he explained, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it. "I can deal with dead bodies just fine, and I can take out enemy machines without a twinge, but personally dealing death with a pistol or sword makes me violently ill."

Kira made no comment at all… but inwardly, he was actually reassured by the reaction. Considering how cold his mentor usually seemed when dealing with battle, it was comforting to know he, too, was uncomfortable with some of the grislier aspects of the trade.

_It's weird, though,_ he admitted to himself. _I can't handle the dead bodies, but I don't get sick if I have to shoot someone, while for Ken it's the other way around…_  
Before any of the three could get very far from the transport, the hangar's main internal hatch slid open, and a familiar figure in Section Nine silver and gray charged in at a run. "Boss!" Tom Delaney called, running up to his commander. "Glad to see you onboard and safe, Boss."

"Safe is a relative term," Ken replied, "at least under these circumstances. What's the situation?"

"Bad," Tom answered grimly, any trace of good humor vanishing in an instant. "We've got a full-blown orbital drop heading right for us, one even bigger than the Ayers Rock Landing Operation three years ago. Saito managed to thin out the ranks, and I don't _think_ we'll be dealing with any more kinetic strikes… but even without them, we've confirmed the presence of an _Archangel_-class -tentatively ID'd as the new _Dominion-_ and at least twenty-five mobile suits of various types."

Ken swore under his breath; and unusual lapse for the normally reserved soldier. "That much, against three ships, seven G-weapons, and two mass-production models. Doesn't sound too bad on the face of it, except that _Dominion_ is probably carrying Sigma, and maybe more; not to mention the likelihood of facing hostile _Orb_ units on top of that… ETA?"

"Unless they pull a faster descent than we expect, I'd guess about ten minutes," the gray-haired Demon answered. "Maybe longer, depending on what they haven't yet launched from _Dominion._ Can't be sure about Orb forces at all; there's no telling how long the destruction of HQ will have them blinded." He hesitated, wanting to ask a question but afraid of the answer. "Boss… what_were_ the casualties at HQ?"

"Bad," Kira replied, when Ken himself hesitated. "From what we could tell… I think something like thirty percent of our noncombatant personnel, and ten or fifteen field operatives."

Tom's hands clenched, and his eyes blazed with sudden anger. The transformation was enough to make even Ken blink; having fought alongside his loyal subordinate for several years now, he'd never seen the man so elementally enraged.

"Those bastards…" Tom whispered, the low tone somehow conveying his anger better than any shout could. "Murdered rear-echelon people who had no business in the middle of a firefight to begin with, in an unprovoked attack on our headquarters…" He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Boss, I'm going with Kira to the _Archangel._ I want a piece of this, too."

"With_what?"_ Rick demanded. "Look, Tom, I know you Demons are supposed to be death itself in the air, but even you need a mobile suit; you can't just ride the flames of your own rage!"

"Commodore Waltfeld's Murasame," Tom responded. "I know it's not fully calibrated yet, but that's when going by his skill; and while I know he could eat me alive in the desert, he specializes in quadrupeds; we Demons are the experts in flyers." He met Ken's one-eyed gaze fiercely. "I know I can do it, Boss. I _have_ to do this."

Ken looked back at him for a moment longer… and then nodded slowly. "Go, Tom," he said softly. "We'll show them the true strength of the Demons… together."

His senior surviving subordinate snapped up his right hand in the crispest salute Ken had ever seen out of him, and then ran past, practically leaping into the tilt-rotor in his haste to get back into action.

Kira watched him go, concern obvious in his eyes. "Are you sure he'll be okay?" he asked quietly. "Andy's Murasame isn't up to combat spec yet…"

"He'll be fine," Ken replied, with quiet confidence. "Something you should remember, Kira: you've never seen a Gray Demon -besides me, anyway- in full cry. Anyone facing Tom Delaney, even with that Murasame, is going to have a very bad day." He met Kira's gaze levelly. "We didn't get the nickname 'Gray Demons' for nothing, Kira."

Kira started to open his mouth again, then stopped, and made himself think about it for a moment. Made himself remember the Second Battle of Jachin Due… and the vicious battle he and Ken had fought against each other. In the end, Kira had had the greater skill over all, but Ken's sheer tenacity and killer instinct hade made up for that difference.

Though he knew there was no way any other Demon could _equal_ Ken's performance, Kira had the feeling that they'd come about as close as any could.

"_Bridge to Major DiFalco,"_ a voice over _Odin_'s PA system interrupted. _"Major, are you aboard?"_

Ken reached up to the headset he still wore over one ear, tapped an adjustment into its frequency setting, and patched directly into_Odin_'s intercom system. "I'm here, Jason. Go ahead."

"_Glad to hear from you, Sir. Major, I thought you should know we've linked up with _Minerva,_ and we're heading toward the rendezvous with _Archangel_ now. ETA is five minutes."_

The Major frowned minutely. "That's going to be cutting it a little close… but I guess it can't be helped." He turned to Kira. "You'd better get on that transport, and off to the _Archangel._ We need Freedom in the air ASAP, Kira."

"Roger that." Kira gave him a thumbs-up, then hurried back into the tilt-rotor. He knew as well as his friend how urgent the situation was. _If that machine Yzak ran into is here, and if there's more than one in that line… then there's no time to waste._

Behind him, Ken continued his conversation with Jason Chance. "So how's the situation up there, Jason? Tom told me Saito already took out some of the enemy?" He didn't need to ask if Saito had survived the experience; he could see for himself the sniper-modified Fianna, parked only meters away in the same hangar he now stood in.

"_Right,"_ Chance confirmed. _"But we just got additional news from the_Archangel:_ it seems an Earth Alliance Special Forces team tried to assassinate you and Commander Zala."_

Ken's eye narrowed dangerously. "They… did… _what?"_

"_Everyone's fine,"_ Chance assured him quickly. _"Mister Clyne was wounded, but the assassins were all killed; I don't think they expected to run into Athrun Zala, several members of _Archangel_'s crew, and Rau Le Creuset. They _did_ launch a mobile weapon attack, as well… but they did so with Forbidden Vortexes, which didn't arrive until _Archangel_'s launch sequence was already well underway."_ For a change, there was actually some satisfaction in the ex-Earth Forces officer's voice. _"I'm pleased to report, Major, that they had the misfortune of encountering Justice."_

A genuine smile broke out on Ken's face at those words. "The Justice, eh? Somehow, I don't think they enjoyed the experience."

"_They didn't,"_ the older man confirmed. _"I suspect Zala did, though; Murrue described a fair amount of carnage when she reported the encounter."_ Ken could almost see him shrug. _"Anyway,_Archangel_ is fine, we've got a brief respite, and we're about to make rendezvous with them. Major, I think you should take the time to get out there, yourself."_

"Concur," Ken replied without hesitation. "I need to retrieve my flightsuit, and then I'll be heading out, as well."

"_Roger that, Major. I'll keep you informed."_

* * *

_Minerva,_ Hangar

* * *

Shinn charged into the hangar as fast as his legs would carry him, pulling on and fastening his helmet as he went. _No time to lose,_ he thought, running toward the Core Splendor. _They'll be on us soon; maybe even before we can reach the rendezvous…_

He vaulted into the fighter-like craft's cockpit the moment he was close enough, and flipped a casual salute at his comrades even as he hit the canopy switch. "This is Shinn Asuka," he called, already flipping switches and tapping keys in his hurry to get his machine ready for launch. "Preparing to launch."

"Good timing, Shinn," Millenia Crescent said approvingly, from the cockpit of GAT-X105E Strike Noir. "We'll be launching as soon as we're all ready. Luna, Rey, what's your status?"

"APU online, Commander," Lunamaria Hawke reported crisply. "Ready for catapult connection."

"ZAKU Phantom, all systems green," Rey Za Burrel said calmly. "I can launch at any time, Commander Crescent."

Millenia nodded. "Excellent. Meyrin," she called, switching to her link with the bridge, "get those two to the port and starboard catapults; I'll launch once they're in position. And begin Impulse's launch sequence, as well."

"_Understood, Commander Crescent,"_ Meyrin Hawke acknowledged. _"Beginning catapult launch sequence."_

The elevator on which the Core Splendor sat began to rise up toward the centerline catapult dedicated for Impulse's many and varied components; at the same time, the hangar's machinery gripped both Luna's ZAKU and Rey's ZAKU Phantom, lifting them off the deck and carrying them toward _Minerva_'s two flank-mounted catapults.

"_All systems green,"_ Meyrin reported. _"Also… Commander Crescent, we have a threat assessment update from _Odin,_ as well as a status report regarding the Section Nine situation."_

Millenia nodded. "What've we got, Meyrin? More bad news?"

"_I'm afraid so, Ma'am. Section Nine's planetary HQ has been self-destructed by the Major, so Orb forces have been delayed by the explosion, but we also have confirmation of incoming mobile suits from directly above. At least twenty-five Daggers of various types… and one _Archangel_-class mobile assault ship."_

She closed her eyes. "And that's probably carrying additional machines like the one Joule encountered during Third Jachin; the EAF doesn't waste _Archangel_-class ships on mere cannon-fodder machines… All right, then, we'll just have to fight them off, won't we?"

Luckily for Meyrin, the question was rhetorical, so she didn't have to worry about how to answer it. _"Rey and Luna have entered the catapult,"_ the young woman said instead. _"Preparing to transfer Strike Noir to catapult deck."_

"Roger that."

Behind her crimson helmet, Millenia Crescent smiled. _So now the Black Widow flies into battle again… After all that idle time in Orb, this'll almost be fun… assuming it doesn't kill me, anyway. Well, if it were easy, then they wouldn't need us for it, now would they._

_And besides… it's always nice to fly alongside Falcon._

* * *

Earth Alliance Forces Mobile Assault Ship _Dominion,_ Bridge

* * *

"Status report," Rear Admiral Sierra Novak barked. "What's our current situation, Commander?"

Down in CIC, Commander Bernard Sheffield grimaced. "It could be better, Admiral. Major McGlynn's 1st Orbital Division unit has lost contact with the Section Nine sniper, and is currently en route to Orb's Moriyama Air Base, to secure control. Lieutenant Colonel Eglar's Durandal team has suffered numerous casualties, and is also retreating to Moriyama Air Base. Phantom Pain…" He winced. "Phantom Pain's Wild Dagger detachment is out of the fight. One was destroyed outright, the other blinded."

Captain Alistair McKay snorted. "Doesn't much matter," he opined. "I'd with McGlynn's team was still in the battle, but Eglar's people wouldn't have been much help in a high-altitude battle anyway. Same for those Wild Daggers… and besides, I never liked Phantom Pain anyway."

Novak didn't bother to reprimand him for the remark. Phantom Pain had a less than stellar reputation within the regular military, due to their paramilitary status and questionable tactics. As far as most in the regular forces were concerned, the unit that "didn't exist" should _literally_ cease to exist.

_Though I'll admit,_ Novak thought to herself, _that that's more due to their questionable status in the chain of command that to their tactics. That sort of thing is almost par for the course in our military…_

She sighed; such thoughts weren't going to do her any good at all, especially not in the middle of a battle. "All right, then, what _do_ we have left, Bernie? I don't like the idea of taking on the combined forces of _Odin_ and _Minerva_ with just our own forces. What about Major Tanner's unit? They should've finished their original mission by now, and at least they're better than-"

"Status change!"

McKay and Sheffield both turned to look at the detection officer, Lieutenant Commander Serafina Metternich. "What is it, Serafina?" Sheffield asked.

"Major Tanner's team has vanished from the grid, Commander," she reported crisply, eyes glued to her display. "New signatures in their area… Oh, no."

The note of fear in the woman's voice was enough to get even Novak's attention, and the admiral swiveled in her chair. "I don't like the sound of 'oh, no', Commander Metternich," she said carefully. "Could you be a little more specific?"

Metternich swallowed hard. "Sorry, Admiral, it's just… Ma'am, I've detected a thermopattern consistent with a nuclear reactor… a _known_ nuclear reactor. According to database, the signature matches that of ZGMF-X09A Justice… and the large heat signature near it is confirmed to be an _Archangel_-class."

McKay swore viciously. "An _Archangel_-class and the Justice?! Admiral, that means-!"

"Yes… the original _Archangel."_ Novak closed her eyes. "The 'Indestructible _Archangel'_, as some called her. So, she's still around…"

The revelation was not a pleasant one, as far as she was concerned. She'd fought at Second Jachin, from the bridge of a _Nelson_-class battleship; she'd witnessed the rogue ship's actions in that battle… including the final confrontation between _Archangel_ and her mentor's ship, the original _Dominion._ Sierra Novak knew the _Archangel_ hadn't been called "Indestructible' for nothing…

"Well," she said at length, "that _does_ alter the situation some. Bernie, I need an accurate count on our remaining mobile suits now, please."

"Uh, yes, Ma'am!" Sheffield tapped quickly at the keypad on his right armrest, and his mouth tightened. "Twenty surviving Dagger Ls in drop pods, Admiral, most of them equipped with Jet Striker packs; also, twelve Jet striker-equipped Windams, including two extra drop pods that were deployed once Command received word of the sniper attack."

"Not much firepower, when compared to what we know Section Nine and ZAFT have at their disposal," McKay murmured unhappily. "Especially when you add in _Archangel_ and whatever _she_ has available…"

Novak nodded silently. She wasn't very happy with the situation either; clearly, Intelligence had made some significant errors when planning the operation. _We can still pull it off,_ she mused, _and we'll certainly succeed in reaching Orb; once there, we'll be in an even stronger position. But taking out those three ships…_

"Message from Orb, Admiral," Atkinson broke in unexpectedly. "It's from Prime Minister Seiran, Ma'am. He says… he says that he's deploying two squadrons of Murasames from the Third Mobile Battalion, as well as a squadron of M1s from their Third Naval fleet."

Novak's eyebrows went up. "Three squadrons of additional mobile suits? Well, well, perhaps we've still got a chance to turn things around after all." She smiled slowly. "Lieutenant Ricardo, patch me through to Commander Hamilton, please."

"Right away, Ma'am," _Dominion_'s Flight Control Officer, Lieutenant Paul Ricardo, acknowledged. "Link established, Admiral."

"Thank you, Paul." Novak turned her attention to the helmeted face that now appeared on her right armrest screen. "Commander, I have news for you."

"_I hope it's good news this time,"_ Commander Allen C. Hamilton said dryly. _"From what I hear, our first drop got its collective behind kicked by that Section Nine sniper."_

"Something of an oversight on ONI's part, yes," Novak admitted. "But yes, it's good news. It seems Command has authorized the deployment of eight additional Windams… and we just received word from Prime Minister Seiran that he's releasing twelve M1s and twenty-four Murasames to help us out."

Hamilton whistled. _"Thirty-six Orb machines? Well, well… The M1 is an ageing design, even with the Shrike upgrade, but Murasames are state of the art, better even than our Windams. That'll be a welcome addition to our order of battle… especially considering how the enemy is likely to react to them."_

"It doesn't _fully_ compensate for the new situation, Commander," she warned him. "We've also confirmed the presence of _Archangel_ and the Justice."

The pilot's mouth tightened… but his eyes didn't completely lose their gleam. _"All the better that we have Orb assistance, then. I know DiFalco and his people, from fighting them: they'll be _very_ careful about opening fire on Orb units, and when they do, it'll be to disable, not destroy. That'll give us something of an advantage in the coming confrontation."_ He nodded thoughtfully. _"So, three ships, a few G-weapons, and a couple of mass-production models on their side… That gives them an advantage in ships, but not necessarily mobile suits. Assuming we move quickly, that is. Permission to deploy my team, Admiral?"_

"Permission granted," Novak replied. "And be careful out there. If the worst case scenario is what we're facing, none of us can afford to make any mistakes at all."

* * *

SNS_Archangel,_ Hangar

* * *

Commander Mu La Flaga was waiting when the tilt-rotor transport settled down on the hangar deck, blithely ignoring the way the rotor wash tried to blast him off his feet; unlike many in _Archangel_'s crew, he'd gotten accustomed to that sort of thing long since, as one of the shorthanded ship's pilots.

_Being around all those Heli choppers during our first stay in Orb sure helped,_ he thought._ Unlike certain other people around here, who spent just about their entire careers in space, spinning their webs in zero-g…_

Standing beside him, Rau Le Creuset could almost hear his old rival's thoughts, but wouldn't have corrected him even if the words had been spoken aloud. After all, he himself agreed with many of Mu's reservations.

When the aircraft's rotors had died down, its passengers wasted no time in disembarking; the cabin door practically flew open, and a gray-haired blur leapt out, charging off for another corner of the hangar without even waiting to greet the two waiting officers.

Kira's exit was rather more sedate, though no less determined. Hopping down from the transport, he started to move off toward Freedom, then paused when he saw Mu and Rau. "Mu, Commander," he greeted. "Glad to see you made it aboard in time." Actually, the second half of that wasn't _entirely_ true, but on the other hand Kira did prefer to have Rau where he could keep an eye on him.

"Likewise, Kira," Mu agreed. "Glad to see you're even still alive. I was just in danger of missing the boat; _you_ were in the middle of a nasty firefight." He jerked his head toward the lineup of mobile suits, parked against one wall. "You got any idea where Tom was going in such a hurry? The last time I saw him move that fast, he was in a GINN running from the Endymion Cyclops system."

"He heard about the casualties at HQ," Kira replied somberly. "He says he's going to take Andy's Murasame up, and pay them back for it."

"Typical Gray Demon," Rau mused. "Loyal to the end… possibly literally in this case. Well, that kind of determination killed Patrick Zala and stopped GENESIS, so I won't try to talk him out of it… assuming he'd even be inclined to listen to me in the first place."

The younger pilot smiled briefly. "He probably wouldn't, at that… Look, Mu, I think we'd better get going. We don't know how long we've got until the main attack begins."

Mu nodded. "I know. And it's not gonna be easy; with Sophia's suit up at the orbital base, and the Strike Rouge down for maintenance, all we've got are Freedom, Justice, Strike, and Buster. Well, and that Murasame, if it actually works."

"You've also got support from _Minerva_'s suits and the Preybird," Rau reminded them. "But you're right, it's not going to be simple… especially since it appears Seiran has decided to give them support from Orb forces, according to a transmission we intercepted."

Kira winced. _I knew we were going to have to do this eventually… but right now is a _really_ bad time for it. We don't want to kill Orb forces -can't, really, if we want to maintain credibility- but that's really gonna complicate things…_

"Hey, you two!" Dearka Elsman called, from across the hangar; alone of them all, he still wore the red flightsuit of ZAFT, since he was, technically, just a redcoat on leave. "We've gotta get airborne! Athrun's already out there, but even he isn't gonna be able to handle all that by himself!"

Mu sighed. "He's right. Kira, go and get into a flightsuit; I'll meet you in the air."

"Right." Nodding sharply, Kira clasped Mu's forearm briefly; then both pilots were off and running, one for his machine, the other for the nearest locker room.

Watching them go, Rau Le Creuset sighed inwardly. _Once upon a time, I'd have been doing my best to thwart their plans; now here I am, trying to help them… yet not doing a very good job of it. I can't do much from here; _Archangel_'s running under a full complement, for a change, and there are no spare mobile suits…_

Sometimes it seemed to him that his path to atonement would be a very long one, indeed… if it could ever be achieved at all.

* * *

_Dominion,_ Hangar

* * *

Commander Allen C. Hamilton completed his preflight checklist with a thin smile, inordinately pleased at the way things were coming together. Even as the cockpit around his seat blurred and resolved itself into a perfect image of the surrounding area, he was planning exactly how he was going to engage the enemy units… and, deep down, very pleased indeed that he was finally about to have the chance to unleash the full fruits of Project Zeta.  
Sliding his visor into place, he keyed his radio. "All Project pilots, report."

"GAT-X506 Sigma, all systems go," Lieutenant Commander Jonas Pike reported, his voice as calm as ever as he prepped his black machine for combat. "Ready to launch on your command, Sir."

"GAT-X507 Nova, ready to rock and roll," Lieutenant (Senior Grade) Oscar Goldberg said cheerfully, as the violent VPS pattern burned to life on his bulky machine. "We'll have them fried before midnight, Commander!"

"Now, now, Scar," Hamilton admonished. "Show a little restraint, please; and remember, I'm not about to release the launch codes for your bazooka for a mission like this. We're here to set up operations in a friendly nation, not blast said nation to radioactive rubble. You'll have to content yourself with sabers and heavy rifle fire."

"Understood, Sir," Goldberg conceded… albeit reluctantly. After being cheated out of the Fatman operation by the Neutron Stampeder, he'd really been looking forward to the opportunity to try out his nuclear bazooka.

_Well, too bad,_ Hamilton thought to himself. _We really don't need to be tossing nuclear warheads around; Azrael tried that, and it nearly got him lynched. He'll just have to make do with that rifle._

Nova's rifle was, indeed, a "heavy" rifle; based on data regarding Preybird's optional armaments, it was a high-powered plasma rifle. Though lacking the raw destructive force of Sigma Variable-Speed Beam Rifles, it was nonetheless more than sufficient to destroy any unshielded mobile suit, and even punch through capital ship armor.

_It might not be much use against the laminated armor used by _Archangel_ or _Odin, Hamilton admitted to himself, _but it should do nicely against their _weapons…_ and anything _else_ hit by it will be having a bad day._

_As will even Freedom, Justice, and Preybird, when they meet Zeta in person…_

"Bridge," he called, switching frequencies, "this is Hamilton. GAT-X508 Zeta, launching."

* * *

ZAFT Battleship LHM-BB01 _Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

"Approaching rendezvous with _Archangel,_ Captain," Bart Heim reported, glancing up from his sensor station. "We'll be alongside in under a minute."

Captain Talia Gladys nodded thankfully. "Excellent news, Bart. I'll feel much better when we're in tandem; this situation calls for mutual support." She glanced over at Chen Jian Yee. "Chen, what's your status?"

"Tristan cannons already deployed, Captain," he replied, typing quickly at his console. "All missile tubes loaded with Dispar missiles; Isolde deployed and ready." He paused. "Receiving telemetry request from_Archangel_ and _Odin_ for mutual fire-support, Ma'am."

"Do it," Talia ordered immediately. "This is no time to be concerned with how trustworthy the Major is or isn't."

"Roger that; commencing interlocking defensive measures now."

Such mutual defensive measures were an uncommon tactic for ships such as_Minerva_ or her new allies, because they tended to be the odd ship out in any formation, but on this occasion they actually happened to have much the same capabilities and armament… a fact which would doubtless prove invaluable in the coming confrontation.

"Incoming transmission from _Archangel,_ Captain," Meyrin called. "Direct link with Captain Ramius."

Talia nodded. "Put it through, Meyrin."

Murrue Ramius' image came to life on the main display a moment later._"Captain Gladys,"_ she greeted, with a faint smile. _"It's good to see you… especially after the day we've had."_

"Likewise, Captain Ramius," Talia agreed. "I've heard it was a busy one for you. I trust everyone's all right?"

"_Mostly,"_ the younger woman assured her. _"On the home front, anyway; Section Nine took a number of casualties, but the only damage from the assassination attempt was a minor injury to Siegel Clyne; Lacus is with him down in the Infirmary right now."_

"I'm glad to hear…" _Minerva_'s captain trailed off. "…Did you say Siegel Clyne? As in the former Supreme Council Chairman?"

"_It's a long story,"_ Murrue told her, with a tired smile. _"You'd be surprised by some of the people we've got with us, I think, but we can talk about it after the battle. For the time being, I suggest we support each other on the way out of here… and, if you don't mind, we'd like to accompany you to Carpentaria Base."_

_That_ request resulted in every head on the bridge briefly turning to the display in surprise; it wasn't every day that the captain of ship that had once been _very_ hostile to ZAFT requested permission to enter ZAFT's largest surface base. Considering the role_Archangel_ had played in the First War, it was, in fact, quite startling, at least to some of them.

"Captain," Arthur Trine began, "I'm not so sure-"

"I agree completely, Captain Ramius," Talia interrupted, as though Trine hadn't spoken in the first place. "It _is_ a bit irregular… but since I suspect you and _Odin_ are going to be as essential to our survival as we are to yours, I think we can make an exception." She smiled with genuine humor. "I'd guess that you never expected to enter Carpentaria as an _ally,_ though."

"_Very true, Captain Gladys,"_ Murrue agreed, with a matching smile._"In fact, there was a time when I fully expected that _Archangel_ would eventually be involved in an attempt to _capture_ Carpentaria… but that was even before True ZAFT was formed, let alone Section Nine."_ She shrugged, some of her smile fading._"That kind of talk can wait until later, though; for now… I think we've got bigger prob-"_

"Incoming fire from _Dominion,_ Captain!" Heim interrupted. "Sledgehammer missiles launched, impact in-"

The bridge displays came alive with light as the CIWS of no fewer than three ships blazed to life on automatic, spitting tungsten penetrators at a salvo of twenty-four missiles… some of which were moving at several times the speed of sound, leaving sharp _cracks_ behind them as they reached out for the missiles.

Missiles broke apart and transformed into shredded masses of metal, turning from deadly weapons to clouds of harmless shrapnel in an instant. One by one, over the course of several fractions of a second, they were picked off by the hellishly-accurate defensive fire.

Within two seconds, the skies were clear once again.

"_Igelstellung-IIIs, Captain Gladys,"_ Murrue explained, seeing the questioning look on Talia's face. _"Section Nine's budget has been strained by certain construction projects, but it was a relatively simple matter to upgrade _Archangel_'s CIWS to high-velocity railguns; their rate of fire is slightly slower than the original, but they can engage at a longer range, with higher accuracy."_

"I see," Talia said after a moment. "Impressive, Captain Ramius; I hope you have a few other tricks up your sleeves, considering the situation."

"_You might say that,"_ Murrue said, with a curious smile. _"But for now… Miriallia: begin launch sequence."_

"_Right away, Ma'am."_

Turning away from the display, Talia nodded up at Meyrin. "Get our machines out there as well, Meyrin. There's no time to lose."

"Understood, Captain." Meyrin touched her headset. "Commander Crescent, this is the Bridge. Begin launch sequence…"

As the young woman continued relaying orders over the intercom, Heim stiffened in his seat. "Captain, we have confirmation of _Dominion_ opening flight decks… and units lifting off from Moriyama Air Base and the Third Naval Fleet."

* * *

Orb Coastal Waters

* * *

The catapult decks of four different ships came open almost simultaneously, while mobile suits came up to the decks of several_Takemikazuchi_-class carriers, and more lifted off from Moriyama Air Base's tarmac. This battle would not be the ambush that had been planned, but rather an all-out brawl between four different factions, on two different sides.

_Dominion_'s catapults came alive before the others, first launching GAT-X506 Sigma into the sky; powered by a nuclear reactor, sheer thruster power carried the wingless machine aloft… though it was currently slipping into freefall, hurtling ahead of its mothership down toward_Minerva_'s altitude. Inside its cockpit, Jonas Pike's face was expressionless, his eyes focused on his targeting scanner as he prepared to bring his VSBRs into play.

Following after him from the port catapult, Scar Goldberg's brightly-colored, massive GAT-X507 dropped just as easily… perhaps more so, considering its bulk. Only its massive thrusters would allow it to fly at all, let alone with the agility the pilot was gleefully awaiting surprising his opponents with. His one regret was Hamilton's refusal to release the launch codes for his atomic bazooka.

Moments later, a final machine rocketed free from _Dominion_'s starboard flight deck… and this one did so in a far more controlled fashion than either of its fellows. Though they could fly, neither was as at home in the air as GAT-X508 Zeta, which now smoothly converted into a wedge-shaped mobile armor mode. As black as Sigma, but with white tiger stripes crisscrossing its surface, Zeta's enemies would soon recognize its pilot by that alone.

Down below, _Minerva_'s catapults also opened. The centerline launch deck methodically threw the Core Splendor and Impulse's other components into the sky, where Shinn began to pull himself together; at the same time, a red ZAKU Warrior emerged from the port catapult, ignited its thrusters, and leapt back to the platform behind the port Tristan. Lunamaria Hawke was relegated to semi-mobile turret status by her lack of flight capability… not that she intended to let that stop her from inflicting massive damage.

To starboard, Rey Za Burrel was doing the same thing with his white ZAKU Phantom… and once he was out of the way, the dark, winged shape of GAT-X105E Strike Noir hurtled out of the catapult, spread its wings, and rose up to an overwatch position above _Minerva,_ where Shinn soon joined Millenia Crescent in waiting for their allies.

_Odin_'s launch sequence was the briefest. Carrying only two mobile suits, one of which would not be participating in the remainder of the battle, she cycled its catapult only once… and ZGMF-X00A Preybird leapt skyward, maser rifle in hand.

SNS_Archangel_ was the last to deploy her machines, though only by a few seconds. Justice was already airborne, of course; and Athrun's relief when GAT-X105 Strike launched was palpable. Its PSA having been tinkered with long since, it was now violet with white trim, signifying the identity of its pilot… a deduction quickly confirmed by its own transmission.

"Ya-_hoo!"_ Mu La Flaga whooped, riding the Aile Striker pack's thrusters into the sky. "There's just nothing like the freedom of the sky!"

"Sure there is, Mu," Dearka Elsman disputed. "I'll take space any day, thanks."

The ZAFT pilot's machine was the most heavily modified of any the_Archangel_ had ever carried, something made evident the moment it emerged into the light of day. GAT-X103 Buster had originally required a subflight lifter to fly, and possessed no melee weaponry; now it sported a hardwired Aile pack and a huge zweihander sword, the former originally part of the now long-defunct GAT-X107 Raptor.

"This sky is going to be painted red before long," Tom Delaney's grim voice growled out a moment later, as his borrowed gold-colored MVF-M11C Murasame lifted off. "Those bastards are _mine."_

"Don't lose your cool, Tom," a final voice advised. "I know what you mean… but if you lose it, you're not gonna make it through this."

Following on the heels of the voice, a very distinctive mobile suit hurtled free of the _Archangel_'s hull. With a black torso, white limbs and head, and ten black, blue-trimmed wings, both it and its signature weaponry would've cast fear in the hearts of almost any ZAFT or Earth Alliance pilot unfortunate enough to get on its bad side.

Lifting into the air above _Archangel,_ its wings spread and beam rifle at the ready, ZGMF-X10A Freedom was as majestic as ever.

Hovering above _Minerva,_ Shinn Asuka's hands clenched on his controls, as his mind flashed back to that fateful day, three years before… the day when his parents and sister died. When GAT-X131 Calamity had fired that fateful shot, Freedom had been one of the mobile suits in the skies above it… possibly even Calamity's target with that very shot…

"What do you think you're doing out here?!" he snapped, anger at Orb momentarily overriding any gratitude he might have felt for reinforcements. "We don't need your-"

Freedom's rifle snapped up, spitting two bolts of coherent emerald light in quick succession, right at the Impulse.

Eyes wide, Shinn froze, stunned that Freedom would actually fire on him… only to realize an instant later that he should've been dead before the thought even crossed his mind. _And if those were aimed at me,_ he thought, throwing Impulse into a spin, _then what just blew up_behind_ me?!_

Even as Shinn had begun his angry tirade, a pair of grenades had fallen from the sky, and would've struck him right in the thrusters of his Force Impulse pack, thus robbing him of flight capability… had X10A Freedom not fire when it had, detonating them prematurely in twin gouts of flame and shrapnel.

"…Oh, you get the point," Shinn muttered, looking up at the descending foes. "Just do whatever you want, I don't care."

_Why_ he didn't care was brutally obvious to the other pilots, now that the new arrivals had announced themselves with the grenade attack. Thirty-two mass-production models, including twelve of the same type Hamilton had flown against _Minerva_ before… along with three G-type machines, only one of them recognizable to the defenders.

And all of them beginning to open fire, with a hail of high-energy beams, red-orange plasma bolts, and streaks Ken correctly guessed to be from the weapons Yzak Joule had faced at Third Jachin.

"All pilots scatter!" Millenia barked out, from above _Minerva_'s superstructure. "Break formation and engage at will!"

Though not bound by her instructions, the machines from _Odin_ and_Archangel_ followed her advice as well, falling back and scattering in the face of the heavy fire. Even as beams of varying types tried to smite them from the air, they wheeled about, interposing shields and using sheer mobility to escape.

Only one among their number chose to instantly engage. "Those Daggers… they're mine!" Tom Delaney snarled, and sent his borrowed gold Murasame streaking up, ignoring the three G-weapons entirely in his desire to punish those who had killed so many of his comrades.  
"New models!" Kira called, batting a plasma bolt of Nova aside as he moved to join Athrun. "I don't recognize the big one or the transformable! Except…" He swore. "Athrun, the one in the lead is Hamilton; I know those stripes!"

"Not good," Athrun replied. "I remember what you and Falcon said about him… But we'll just have to take him, won't we? Like old times?"

"Yeah," his friend agreed, with a thin smile. "Let's go!"

The pair fed power into their own thrusters, riding blue-white fire to engage the enemy formation… which, like their own, was beginning to break up.

Ken was about to follow them when his radio came to life. _"Ken,"_ Murrue called, her voice flat, _"there's been a new development. We've confirmed Orb units approaching our position at high speed. Rules of engagement Bravo are now in effect."_

"I copy ROE Bravo," he answered, voice equally flat. Under Bravo, Section Nine units were to exercise extreme caution when selecting targets… and use deadly force only when the proper hostiles had been confirmed, or no other option was available. It was a lesson that had been learned from the First War, when so many of their people had had to fight people they knew personally… even though the results of that lesson tended to be difficult to adhere to when the battles became more and more intense.

"Commander Crescent," Ken went on, turning his attention to the ZAFT units, "Section Nine is currently operating under ROE Bravo. I have no authority over you, but I'd appreciate if you also hold to that. This situation is bad enough without massacring Orb units en masse."

"Agreed, Major," Millenia replied flatly. "We'll leave Orb's machines to you. Shinn," she called, "you and I are going to engage those enemy G-weapons, understood?"

"Roger that," Shinn answered promptly, and increased thruster power. "I'm going."

Millenia nodded sharply, and began to ascend herself… only to be interrupted by another radio call. "Hey, Millenia!" Dearka called, flying in her direction. "Catch!"

The Buster was carrying one of the Strike's spare shields in one hand… a shield which he now hurled toward the Strike Noir. The black machine put away one of its beam rifles, catching the shield in its now-free left hand. "Thanks, Dearka," Millenia told him with a smile. "I appreciate it."

More than once, during _Minerva_'s battles from Armory One onwards, she'd regretted Strike Noir's lack of a shield; now she'd at least be able to defend herself… something which instantly saved her life, as a plasma bolt from Nova crashed down at her, slamming into her shield with another force to knock her back several meters.

"Oh, that wasn't very smart," Millenia whispered. "Now… you're going to pay for that!" With a roar from its thrusters, Strike Noir streaked skyward, preparing to engage the bulky machine. "Luna, Rey, you two protect the ship, got it?"

"Understood, Commander," Rey acknowledged, already snapping off a shot at one of the descending Dagger Ls.

Still hanging near _Archangel,_ Ken shook his head. _Well, at least_someone_ has things under control._ _Now it's about time I got things ready on my end._ "Mu," he called, keying his radio, "you and Dearka should handle the Orb units. Kira and Athrun are already busy, I'm the only one who can block Sigma's weapons, and _Minerva_'s ZAKU pilots are both rookies, who I wouldn't trust with that kind of job."

Mu nodded. "You got it, Bro. You guys take out those pesky Alliance people; we've got the M1s and Murasames. C'mon, Dearka!"

"You got it, Mu," Dearka acknowledged, and unlimbered his gun launcher and beam rifle. Though meant for _heavy_ fire support, Buster was also a capable sniper unit, an ability that he was about to use to his advantage. "Go get 'em, Falcon. We'll handle the rest down here."

Two of the last surviving Heliopolis-era machines boosted away, heading astern of _Archangel_ to intercept the Orb machines… leaving only Preybird still uncommitted.

_Well,_ Ken told himself, _now is the time, I suppose. Soon enough, everyone is going to realize that the Major and the so-called Grimaldi Falcon are one and the same… but I guess it can't be helped._

Setting his radio to all-bands transmission, Ken DiFalco opened his mouth, took a deep breath… and uttered an inhuman, ascending wail over the airwaves.

* * *

Nearly a kilometer up in the sky, Allen Hamilton's Zeta, now in mobile suit mode once again, came into firing range of Freedom and Justice… and Hamilton smiled. "So you're the two aces I've heard so much about," he called, lifting his beam rifle almost casually. "Freedom and Justice… the twin virtues, I suppose, eh?"

"And you're Allen Hamilton," Kira replied, readying his own weapon. "I remember your father well, from the War."

Hamilton's expression darkened. "You should," he said, all trace of humor vanished. "You're the one who killed him, after all." Without any further warning at all, he squeezed the trigger, sending a bolt of emerald light directly at Freedom's head.

Kira twitched Freedom to the left, then rushed forward, firing green darts of his own back at Zeta. "I did what I had to do," he retorted, grimacing as his first shots went wide. He took a moment to adjust his targeting, adding, "It was war, Hamilton; these things happen in war. That's what war _is!"_ His parameters updated, he sighted in on Zeta's cockpit, and let fly, fully expecting the bolt to pierce the enemy machine and bring the fight to a swift end.

Hamilton, alas, wasn't feeling very accommodating.

To Kira's surprise, Zeta actually twisted away from the shot, then used its many and powerful verniers to boost into motion, canceling his downward momentum and regaining some of his lost altitude. "You're not going to get me that easily, I'm afraid," Hamilton said calmly. "You're dealing with Zeta, the culmination of _Project_ Zeta, an operation intended to make use of certain technologies that made your friend a hellish adversary during the War. If you think the technology that made Preybird so maneuverable is still limited only to Preybird and its direct copy… then I'd afraid you're sadly mistaken. In fact-"

"In fact," Athrun Zala interrupted, "you talk too much."

Having boosted around behind Zeta while Hamilton was distracted by Freedom, the Justice now darted forward, swinging a beam saber down at Zeta's unprotected back.

Cursing under his breath, Hamilton spun partway around, managing to interpose his shield at the last instant. "Maybe I do," he grunted through gritted teeth, as the fiery blade made a sparking impact on his shield, "but that doesn't mean I don't keep an eye on my surroundings!" Maintaining the pressure against Justice's shield, he fired off another bolt at Freedom, trying to shatter the other machine's rifle.

"I don't think so!" Kira jerked back, allowing the emerald dart to scorch harmlessly past, then backflipped, allowing another to pass within meters of his cockpit… before snapping into HiMAT mode at the end of the flip. "And yours isn't the only group to have used that technology on other machines!" Almost as though to punctuate the declaration, he fired off Freedom's full ranged armament, sending a barrage of green darts, streaks of red-orange plasma, and rail cannon slugs at the Alliance machine.

Hamilton reacted quickly, swinging both arms inward. With his shield no longer presenting an opposing force to the Justice, Athrun flew past before he could reverse thrust; at the same time, the shield slid into place in front of Zeta's cockpit, just in time to spatter an emerald dart before it could pierce the machine's hatch.

The same motion moved Zeta just enough for the plasma bolts to miss completely… but the high-velocity rail cannon slugs were another matter. One hammered Zeta's head, ricocheting off the VPS and accomplishing little but rocking the machine back; the second, however, caught Zeta in the right wrist, impacting directly on one of the open grenade launcher muzzles there.

The remaining grenade in that barrel was struck directly, detonating the explosive before ever being fired; the blast front from the explosion slammed sideways, setting off the second launcher's remaining grenade in a sympathetic explosion.

The top of Zeta's right wrist blew apart in a shower of sparks, fire, and shrapnel.

Hamilton cursed, as lurid red warning messages scrolled up on his diagnostic display. _That was too close,_ he thought grimly, noting that functionality of Zeta's right arm had been reduced almost twenty-five percent by the explosion. _I begin to see why Freedom and Justice were such a deadly team during the War… Time for me to regroup._

Athrun came soaring back into the fight, lashing out with his saber, aiming a slash at Zeta's left shoulder… at the same instant that Hamilton shoved a lever forward in his cockpit, engaging his transformation system. Zeta's limbs came inward, its wings spread, and its shield settled into place as the new form's nose.

Conversion complete, Hamilton slammed the throttle to the firewall, and dove down out of the fight.

Athrun cursed. "He's good, Kira!"

"Yeah," Kira agreed. "Probably one of the best the Earth Alliance has left… which is probably why he's here." He shook his head. "Let's go. We can't let him attack the ships!"

"Right."

In unison, Freedom and Justice flipped end for end, accelerated, and followed Hamilton's dive toward the three besieged ships.

Even as they did so, four powerful energy blasts lanced down out of the sky, chased by another salvo of Sledgehammer missiles and a volley of linear cannon fire.

* * *

SNS_Odin,_ Bridge

* * *

"Incoming fire!" Lieutenant Ross Hancock called from CIC's detection station. "High-energy beam fire targeted on us!"

Before he'd even finished his sentence, the entire ship rocked from the impact of capital ship-grade energy fire. A shudder passed through the bridge, displays flashed from the intense light… and damage alarms began to blare in the background.

"Damage report!" Jason Chance barked; an order immediately followed by, "Find _Dominion,_ and put some of our own missiles up her backside!"

"Helldarts loaded," Lieutenant Frank Castile acknowledged. "Dual load of Korinthos and Sledgehammer missiles prepped and locked; firing now!"

This time, the faint shudder that ran through _Odin_'s hull was a welcome one, in that it meant the missile launchers were still intact, despite the hit. A full salvo of sixteen Helldart surface-to-air missiles burst from the aft hull of _Odin_'s superstructure, while a dozen more ship-to-ship missiles rocketed from the ship's tailfin.

Castile's quick action proved fortuitous, as the Helldarts' onboard targeting systems detected the incoming missile salvo, and automatically turned to track them. Powering skyward at eight times the speed of sound, all sixteen flew into the cloud of hostile fire within seconds of being launched; those that failed to achieve mutual destruction in a fiery collision were triggered by proximity sensors as soon as their simple-minded computers realized a direct hit was impossible.

For all that sixteen of _Dominion_'s salvo were destroyed, though, eight more came through… and unlike the Gottfried blasts, they were not aimed at _Odin._

Chance winced, seeing the remaining warheads dive at _Archangel,_ but he knew there was little he could do to help at this point; all he could do was pray their own CIWS could handle the fire… and make sure he kept his own ship in the fight. "Lieutenant Kalachian, where's that damage report?!"

"Coming in from Damage Control Central now," Anna Kalachian replied, from one of the ECCM stations. "The laminated armor took most of it, but we've got breaches in three compartments in Block 16, aft; bulkheads have sealed them, and a damage control party is en route. Combat capability unaffected."

Chance grunted. "Very well. Helm, bear twenty degrees farther to port; I want us closer in on _Archangel_'s flank. Ross, what's_Dominion_'s altitude?"

"Matching with ours now, Sir," Hancock replied, "and- Valiant fire inbound for _Minerva!"_

"What?!" The captain spun in his seat, just in time to see that _Minerva_ was already aware of the incoming; her big Tristan cannons targeted and fired with greater speed and precision than _Odin_'s could've managed, and columns of emerald light vaporized the high-velocity shells before they could hit.

A moment later, the massive Isolde triple-barreled cannon rotated smoothly, elevated its barrels, and fired, spitting heavy cannon shells toward _Dominion,_ returning the "favor" of the linear cannon barrage.

"Looks like they have things under control for the moment," Chance muttered, forcing his taut shoulders to relax. "And it's showing the enemy's weakness: plenty of mobile suits, but only one ship… Frank," he called, voice suddenly cold, "engage _Dominion_ at will."

* * *

Orb Coastal Waters

* * *

Jonas Pike heard the hunting call of the peregrine falcon, and his eyes narrowed. "The Butcher Bird," he murmured, recalling the title the Earth Forces had given the pilot during his privateer campaign toward the end of the First War. "Or should that be… Demon Lord? Well… I supposed I'll find out soon enough."

He drew that conclusion from the fact that Preybird was rising up directly toward him, rifle in its left hand, Gerbera Straight in the other. _Preybird… equipped with a beam shield these days, if I remember right. Hm; he probably figures he's the only machine here that can handle my VSBRs properly. He may even be right… I guess we'll see soon._

"So you're the pilot my friend Yzak met the other day," Ken noted, raising his maser rifle. "Jonas Pike, isn't it? Though I suppose your name doesn't matter… since this battle ends now." Without further ado, he pulled the trigger, launching a burst of focused microwave radiation; even phase-shift armor would be nothing against the intense heat…

Except that it never reached Sigma to begin with. Snapping up his left arm, Pike caught the burst on a shield of light, stopped the microwave blast cold in a bright flare. Expanding briefly out to the sides, the maser burst simply faded after less than a second.

Ken blinked. "Using plasma sandwiched between plate-like electromagnetic fields as a shield… a cheap and simple application defensive application of plasma technology." His hands tightened imperceptibly on his controls. "So, you've developed your own version…"

"Not everything we have is derived from Preybird's original form, Demon Lord," Pike informed him calmly. "The Earth Alliance developed the base technology that you started with, remember? Don't be so surprised that we're still on the cutting edge." He smiled thinly. "I'll give you this much, though: that maser rifle is an innovative weapon. Using the N-jammers to compress microwave radiation in a short-range 'shotgun'-type weapon is something we've never thought of." A compartment on Sigma's left hip armor suddenly opened up. "But it's not good enough, Demon Lord… and this battle isn't going to be easy for you."

Sigma's hand swept out a beam saber, igniting the blade of frozen fire with a flick of a switch. The crimson sword swept up in an abbreviated salute, then down to the lower right as Sigma suddenly darted toward Preybird.

Ken reacted quickly, clipping his maser rifle to his left rail cannon and bringing his Gerbera up in a two-handed grip. The long, curved blade clashed against Sigma's energy blade midway between the two suits, forming a sparking, blazing "X" in front of Preybird's cockpit.

They held the pose for an endless moment… and then Ken pulled back, dodged sideways, and swung around to Sigma's left, Gerbera chopping down at the Earth Forces machine's back. _If I can take out his thrusters, this will be-_

Sigma whirled, using the agility granted by its organic-like inner frame to match Preybird's speed. Its saber swung up, then crashed down against the flat of the Gerbera, forcing it sideways just enough to cause it to miss, slicing through air mere meters from Sigma's side.

_He's good,_ Ken thought, energizing his own shield long enough to block a strike from Sigma's saber in a shower of sparks. _He's no Ganryu school pupil… but he's undeniably dangerous. I was right to engage him myself; Kira and I are the only pilots I'd truly trust to face him._

Sigma slashed down again, forcing Preybird to fall back, raising the Gerbera above its head, pointed off to the left, to catch the attack that would otherwise have split the advanced machine clean in half. Then, shoving back, Ken forced Sigma away long enough to unfold his Xiphias rail cannons. Pausing only long enough for his targeting reticule to flash red, he pulled the trigger, sending a pair of high-velocity tungsten penetrators streaking across the sky.

The black machine took them full in the chest, rocking it backward several meters and bouncing Pike around in the cockpit; and while the Earth Alliance pilot was disoriented, Ken pulled out his maser rifle again, took careful aim at Sigma's cockpit, and pulled the trigger one more time.

To his surprise, Pike managed to swing his arm up and activate his shield again just in time; the shield failed to stop the maser burst entirely, but the edge caught the blast mid-flight, deflecting it just enough for it to pass harmlessly above Sigma, dissipating into the air… at which point Sigma tossed its saber over to its left hand, and swung its right-hand VSBR into firing position.

Ken tensed. _That must be it,_ he thought tensely. _I really _was_ right to take him on myself._ Reacting on with Coordinator reflexes, he energized his own beam shield and snapped up his left arm, even as Jonas Pike's finger tightened on the trigger. _All I have to do is-_

A bolt of red-orange fire slammed into the energy shield… and pierced right through, slamming into the shoulder behind it. The shield flickered and died, as the shoulder joint sparked, melted… and frayed, before blasting outward.

Preybird's left arm fell away, carrying its one ranged energy weapon with it, ripped itself apart a hundred meters below, as the power surge set off the maser rifle's capacitor.

* * *

A blade of crimson fire clashed against a red shield, sparked, and rebounded… chased by another slash of crimson.

The GAT-04 Windam fell back, narrowly avoiding the slice aimed at his cockpit. _She's good,_ the Earth Forces pilot thought, snapping up his shield to ward against another attack, this time a stab aimed at his right shoulder. _So she really is the Black Widow, after a-_

Twin high-velocity metal slugs slammed into him, one glancing harmlessly off the shield… the other smashing into the Windam's hatch, shattering through outer armor and immolating the pilot, before blasting the Windam's main thrusters apart on the way out.

The energy battery destroyed, all power flow ceased, and the powerless hulk of a mobile suit fell almost gracefully from the sky.

"Just a Windam," Millenia Crescent muttered, allowing her linear cannons to return to their normal positions. "They may be new, but they're still nothing to a machine like mine… Unlike _that."_ Lifting her gaze skyward, the cybernetic pilot locked her eyes on the form GAT-X507 Nova. Impulse was already rising up to meet it… and yet its pilot simply floated there, riding the power of a pair of enormous thrusters mounted on its shoulders.

_Something isn't right here,_ she thought uneasily. _That pilot shouldn't be so lazy; not when a machine they _know_ is dangerous is heading right for it…_

Her thoughts were interrupted by an emerald dart that nearly took Strike Noir's head off. "Another of you small fry?" Millenia said contemptuously. "No," she corrected herself, realizing it was a Jet-equipped Dagger L, "you're not even good enough to be called that. You're nothing but-"

A slash of crimson rose from below, catching the Dagger L right in the Striker pack. In a flash, it tore apart, sending fragments of metal flying as it ripped through, then pulled back… and rammed forward again, straight through the suit's integral thrusters.

"You're nothing but _trash,"_ Tom Delaney hissed, forcing his blade all the way through the Dagger's torso. "Trash… that killed too many of my friends and comrades today!"

The Earth Alliance pilot was vaporized even before he could scream, and his machine vanished in an expanding cloud of flame and debris a moment later.

"…Nice work, Tom," Millenia said after a moment. "Having a bad day?"

"You could say that," he bit out in reply. "I don't know about you, but I feel like _ripping them apart_ right now." Seemingly impatient to get on with his chosen task, he converted the gold Murasame to mobile armor mode, aimed his nose at the sky, and took off as though shot from a cannon, rising toward the last unopened Earth Forces drop pod.

_Hm… I haven't seen Tom that angry in a long time,_ Millenia mused._But considering what happened at Endymion and Second Jachin, I'm not surprised he'd react like that to what happened at Section Nine's local HQ._

She shrugged. _Can't blame him, either; and it's going to come in handy, I suspect. But while he's handling the high ground, I'd best finish up here._

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind that Millenia had to raise her borrowed shield to block a red-orange bolt from her left. The powerful blast lit her shield with a brilliant flare, furiously trying to burn clear through, and Strike Noir was pushed back several meters by sheer kinetic energy.

"Hyper-impulse cannon?" Millenia blinked in surprise, then turned to see Launcher-equipped Dagger L falling out of the sky toward her, already firing again, its Agni cannon's muzzle flash lighting up the entire sky.

No longer caught unaware, Millenia threw Strike Noir into a backflip, coming so close to the incoming fire that the bolt of raw energy passed right between her machine's legs. Another meter to the left or right and the blast would've ripped off at least one leg; one meter higher, and _both_ legs would've been severed… or worse.

Instead, Strike Noir survived… and both Millenia's eyesight and reactions were beyond that of a normal pilot.

The Dagger L was just lining up for another shot, sure that he could connect this time, when a crimson-edged sword came hurtling up at him. He just had time to realize what it was, and start to change his aim to intercept it, when it crashed into his machine's pelvis… and kept on going.

Melting through high into the torso, the beam sword's edge pierced the cockpit, showing several centimeters of itself to the horrified pilot… and then the cumulative damage caught up with it in a disastrous short-circuit.

Dagger and sword vanished from the world in a bright ball of flame.

"Well, there goes one of my weapons," Millenia mused regretfully. "On the other hand, I can only use one at a time while carrying a shield anyway, so I suppose it doesn't really matter…" Shrugging to herself, she pulled out one of her short beam rifles, then paused, looking back up at the sky.

Impulse now held a saber, and Shinn snarled wordlessly as he came up in a rising slash at Nova… and missed.

* * *

Shinn blinked, startled, when his blade encountered nothing but air on its way up. _What the- Where'd he go?!_ He glanced around, hurriedly seeking for the target-

"Looking for me, kid?" Goldberg said with a grin, and Nova fired its plasma rifle directly at Impulse's left flank.

It was a credit to the gengineers who modified him before birth, and to the reflexes their modifications had produced, that Shinn wasn't instantly immolated. Reacting with a speed few unmodified Naturals could match, he swung Impulse's left arm out, intercepting the plasma bolt in a flare of light.

"So, you're one of Hamilton's people," Shinn hissed. "You're quick, for someone so fat."

"You ain't seen nothing yet," Goldberg replied, suppressing his own surprise at the fact that he'd come even that close to actually hitting Impulse. "You shouldn't always judge a machine's speed by it's bulk, you know!"

Nova's massive thrusters flared, and Shinn's eyes widened as the big machine darted forward at a speed he hadn't believed such a mobile suit could achieve. _Certainly not with so little acceleration time,_ he thought. _And what's he-?_

Nova's equally massive shield crashed into Impulse, hurling the ZAFT machine back and into a tumble. "Ugh!" Shinn grunted out, head spinning from the impact as well as the uncontrolled spin. "Why you-!" He shook his head violently, trying to recover his equilibrium before anything _worse_ could happen.

Goldberg grinned again. "Like shooting fish in a barrel," he said with a chuckle. "Or should I say… _slicing_ fish in a barrel," he amended, stowing his rifle in a rack on the inside of his shield, and replacing it with one of the powerful beam sabers stored on his hips. "It's over for you, kid."

Igniting both the saber and its massive thrusters, Nova darted forward, raising the fiery blade for a blow that would surely cleave the tumbling Impulse in half. The blade came up, then began to hammer down with the speed granted by Nova's frame…

Only to pass through empty air, much as Impulse's own weapon had done.

It was Goldberg's turn to blink in confusion. "…Huh…? Where'd he… go…?" He canceled his forward flight, and began to rotate in place.

Which was when Impulse kicked him in the lower back. "Don't think so little of me… or so much of yourself!" Shinn snarled. Having recovered from the tumble at the last instant, Impulse now held its rifle instead of a saber… and before the startled Goldberg could even think of doing anything about it, the rifle's muzzle glowed green, and an emerald bolt spat across the intervening space.

Only Nova's massive armor -meant to protect it against forces even greater than a beam rifle- saved Goldberg's life. Instead of punching clear through the way it would have with a lesser machine, the blast was partially deflected, melting a gash in Nova's torso at an oblique angle, and expending its energy in a furrow along the outer armor.

Shinn blinked. "How did he…?"

Goldberg laughed, sensing some of the advantage returning to his side of the battle. "You think you'll get through _this_ armor that easy? This was made to handle forces you can't comprehend, kid." Still laughing, he switched back to his plasma rifle. "Sounds like this battle will be entertaining!"

_Blast it! That armor… looks like I'll need to hit him dead-on; anything less than a perfectly direct hit is too likely to be deflected…_

Taking a deep breath, Shinn closed his eyes for a moment, reaching for calm in the manner Ken DiFalco had taught him during the months spent in Orb. _Find the center… In battle, you can't afford to lose your cool, even for a second. Get too angry now…_

His eyes snapped open, and he threw Impulse sideways just in time to let a plasma bolt burn past his right shoulder. He responded by firing another shot of his own, this time burning a gash in Nova's right arm, just above the elbow.

…_And I'll lose everything._

"All right, then," Shinn Asuka said coldly, gazing levelly at Nova. "You want a fight… then you're going to get one."

* * *

SNS_Archangel,_ Bridge

* * *

The ship shuddered as another missile was blown apart far too close to the hull, and Arnold Neumann banked _Archangel_ to starboard as another pair of high-velocity shells from the enemy Valiants came screaming in.

"Damage report!" Murrue barked out, glaring at _Dominion;_ the enemy ship seemed to have singled out _Archangel_ as her primary target… though she did not neglect the other ships, either, as was made even more evident by a missile salvo streaking toward _Minerva._

"Blocks Nine and Sixteen are sealed off!" Sai reported, over the sounds of autocannon fire from _Minerva_ and yet more explosions, audible even through the hull. "Fires reported in the aft levitator section; damage control parties are on their way!"

Behind the young ECM specialist, Natarle cursed. "To think that one_Archangel_-class could be doing this much," she muttered. "Holding off all three of us, and inflicting this kind of damage… I guess this is what happens when they don't have a civilian interfering with their operations."

Now, more than ever, she was grateful for Muruta Azrael's habit of leading from the front during the First War. Had he not exerted his influence on the original _Dominion_'s operations, Natarle had the feeling that their battles would've been much, much worse.

Murrue was no happier about the situation than her exec. "Dalida, try and get a handle on their fire control, ASAP; I want their missile targeting jammed as soon as possible. Flay, get me a link with_Minerva._ I want a status report from them, as well."

"On it, Captain," Chandra acknowledged, tapping furiously at his console. _That's right; if we can take their missiles out of the equation, they won't be able to target so many of us at a time…_

"Link established, Captain," Flay called. "Transferring to your station."

As promised, Talia's face soon appeared on Murrue's right armrest screen. _"Captain Ramius,"_ she greeted curtly. _"What's your status?"_

"Combat capability still unimpaired," Murrue replied, barely flinching as a shudder ran through the ship; this time, the impact on _Archangel_'s hangar area was from _Dominion_'s Gottfrieds. While it would be bad if such pounding kept up, a single hit wasn't even going to burn the laminated armor. "We may have a problem with our aft levitators if we don't hurry, but we're otherwise still in the fight. What about you?"

"_It could be better,"_ Talia admitted. _"Our mobile suits are doing all right for the most part, but _Dominion_'s Sledgehammer attacks are starting to chip away at our armor. We've also lost three CIWS turrets; that's not helping our missile defense any, I can tell you. But,"_ she added, with a sudden, grim smile, _"we're about ready to take the fight to them. That laminated armor of theirs is stymieing our Tristans… but I'm not at all sure how much it'll help them against the Isolde."_

Murrue nodded slowly, a small smile of her own forming. "In that case, Captain Gladys, I have an idea. Romero," she called over her shoulder, "transmit fire plan Lima over to _Minerva_'s fire control."

"Right away, Ma'am," Pal acknowledged, and bent to the task.

Talia raised an eyebrow. _"What do you have in mind, Captain Ramius?"_

The younger woman's smile widened. "Let's just say, Captain Gladys, that _Archangel_ has one more trick up her sleeve that the Earth Forces don't know about. Romero," she said, turning again, "bring the Intrepid HVW online… and target _Dominion_'s aft launchers."

* * *

_Dominion,_ Bridge

* * *

"Direct hit on _Archangel_'s bow, Captain," Commander Sheffield reported, glancing down at his screen. "…No damage indicated, however; their laminated armor is still holding."

McKay swore incredulously. "We've hit that ship so many times, a lesser class would've been fried a dozen times over! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that kind of durability was even possible!"

Novak shook her head. "They don't call her 'Indestructible' for nothing, I suppose… They built that ship tough…"

"Tough" appeared to be something of an understatement, in fact; Novak remembered _Archangel_ from Second Jachin, and so she'd thought she had something of an appreciation of the ship's capabilities, but this engagement was surpassing even her expectations in that regard. Not only was the laminated armor at least ten percent more heat-resistant than the specs indicated, but her ECM and ECCM was at least _twenty_ percent more efficient than battle data from the First War indicated it should be.

Moreover, the new CIWS they'd equipped was proving hellishly effective. So far, _Dominion_'s missiles had managed to rip several gashes in _Archangel_'s hull, but nothing significant; and the vast majority of missiles hadn't even made it that far, having been smote from the sky by high-velocity projectiles.

"What about _Odin?"_ Novak asked at length. "Have we had any more luck with her?"

"Their acceleration has dropped," Metternich reported, checking her readouts. "I think we took a piece out of her engine room; their thrust has decreased by ten percent. Point defense efficiency dropped slightly, as well. I think we got a bite out of her radar, Admiral."

_At least _something_ is going right; I was beginning to think Section Nine was invincible._ "What about _Minerva?"_ Novak said aloud. "She may be tied into their defense net, but she shouldn't have those hellish upgrades."

"Their point defense is down by twenty-five percent," the lieutenant commander answered, squinting at her displays. "They've lost at least three CIWS turrets… and their levitator drive field has a slight fluctuation. I'm trying to get a better read via lidar-" She broke off abruptly, eyes widening. "Status change! Two new radiation signatures just appeared on _Archangel!"_

McKay spun in his chair. "Radiation signatures?" he repeated, frowning. "Auxiliary power for the engines, or what?"

"I don't think it's for their engines, Sir," Metternich replied, shaking her head. "It's not fusion power, and they're not in the reactor spaces… Wait. They're on either side of _Archangel_'s after hull, near… near the Valiant cannons…? Wait, those aren't-!"

Aboard the very ship they targeted, two orders rang out, one to communications, and the other to her own fire control… and the weapons mounted where once the Valiant linear cannons had been came to life in a surge of nuclear power.

As Metternich had realized a moment too late, each weapon was powered by an individual nuclear fission reactor… a reactor whose entire output was devoted to its weapon's systems. Backed by that enormous energy, tremendously powerful electromagnetic fields flared to life within the cannon barrels… and meter-long projectiles slammed forth, instantly accelerated to just under thirty hundred fifty thousand meters per second, or three hundred fifty kilometers per second… ten times the velocity of a Valiant linear cannon shell.

Moving at that speed, Metternich hadn't even finished speaking before the twin projectiles slammed into _Dominion_'s hull. With a velocity that great, no warhead was necessary; even projectiles as small as one meter long had the kinetic energy of a large bomb at that speed, and no interception was possible. With kinetic energy alone, they crashed into _Dominion_'s tail "fins", striking just above the anti-ship missile launchers.

_Dominion_ had shuddered several times over the course of the engagement, as enemy fire made it through their defenses to crash into the ship's armor… but this was worse. More than merely a shudder, Novak felt as though she were in the middle of an earthquake, as the kinetic weapons hurtled into her ship.

The velocity the weapons had attained rammed them into the ship's laminated armor, shattering through the outer layer like it didn't exist, and careening all the way through with a horrendous grating noise. Metal shrieked in protest, heavy vibrations ran all the way across the hull… and then the entire missile banks ripped themselves apart in titanic twin explosions. Shards of laminated armor, shredded cables and conduits, and chunks of missile scrap blasted out into the air, accompanied by enormous gouts of flame.

Then, before the ship could even begin to settle from the explosions, the tri-barreled cannon on _Minerva_'s bow belched fire of its own, hurling a trio of cannon shells across the intervening space. With _Dominion_'s crew still shell-shocked, and the ship itself far from under control, Novak could only watch in disbelief as the shells crashed down on _Dominion_'s starboard Gottfried, striking the energy cannon dead on. Piercing through its outer housing, the exploding projectiles burst inside the weapon itself, setting off its capacitors in the process.

With another explosion of fire and shrapnel, the Gottfried's twin barrels tore off, and a column of flame burst out the top of the turret.

"_Damage report!"_ McKay shouted over the cacophony of explosions, shrieks of protesting metal, and wailing of alarms. _"What in the world was that?!"_

Lieutenant Evan Scalzi coughed on the smoke that had appeared down in CIC, waving at the air in an attempt to read his displays through it. "Everything aft of Block Sixteen is sealed off!" the ECM specialist reported, shouting himself. "All surface to surface missile tubes are gone; aft radar arrays are fried, and we've lost at least three Igelstellung mounts!" He tapped quickly at his console, fingers flying as they never had before. "Gottfried One destroyed! Starboard catapult deck heavily damaged!"

McKay swore incredulously. "How on earth did they _do_ that?! It should've taken positron fire to do that!"

Novak could only nod in stunned agreement. Her mind was beginning to function again, and she'd already realized that if _Archangel_ could've fired consecutive shots, she'd have already been dead… but the mere fact that the ship did it in the first place was a stunning revelation. _Those weapons were too fast to register, even at this range. What in the world…?_

"Captain!" Lieutenant Ryan Larson called, from fire control. "I think I know what that was, Sir!"

McKay spun in his chair. "Well, don't keep it to yourself, Lieutenant! What do you know that we don't?"

"Hyper-velocity weaponry, Sir," Larson answered, able to lower his voice as the alarms finally quieted. "I heard Adukav Mechano-Industries was working on them; basically a rail cannon with an extremely powerful electromagnetic field, several times as efficient as anything in current use. They haven't been getting far, though, because of the power requirements. You'd need either a whole new generation of fusion reactor, or dedicated fission reactors for each individual weapon."

Novak nodded slowly. "Which explains the extra radiation signatures… But it obviously takes them time to charge, and the radiation signature is a dead giveaway. If we can keep rad scanners on her at all times, we'll have at least a little warning…"

"It doesn't change the damage we've already taken, Admiral," McKay pointed out grimly. "Frankly, Ma'am, we can't stop them by ourselves. Not anymore. We could get one of them, maybe, with Lohengrin fire -assuming those haven't been damaged- but the other two would fry us in a heartbeat."

"I know." The admiral sighed. "Heads are going to roll for this, Alistair. At the least, Intelligence screwed up their estimates big time; at the most, the idiots who came up with this idea in the first place may lose out… But that's all _after_ the battle. Lieutenant Atkinson, " she said, turning to the com officer, "transmit our current battle data to the _Missouri;_ maybe the brass upstairs will have a better idea what to do from here."

* * *

Orb Coastal Waters

* * *

"Attention, Section Nine and ZAFT forces! Surrender and land immediately, or face the consequences! We will not hesitate to use lethal force!"

Mu La Flaga shook his head with a sigh, watching the Orb Murasames flying out from the coast. "A little bit late for that, guys; your buddies with the Earth Forces have already started blasting the stuffing out of us. If you think we're going to surrender now, you're delusional."

"…I don't like this, Mu," Dearka said quietly, even as he armed his beam rifle and gun launcher. "Having to shoot down Orb machines because of Seiran's treason… I maybe be back with ZAFT these days, but this still isn't right."

"I know," the Hawk of Endymion agreed. "But remember this: these guys are Seiran loyalists, or they probably wouldn't be here. If nothing else, I don't think anybody else would be stupid enough to attack _us_ like this." He shrugged. "Anyway, no help for it; we'll just have to try to be as gentle as we can."

"Yeah."

Watching the Orb machines flying out from land, and up from carrier decks, Dearka couldn't help but remember the First War, when he'd first gone over to his friend Ken's way of thinking. Back then, he'd fought hard alongside M1 Astray pilots during the Battle of Orb, and come to know and like a number of them. Having to leave such valiant soldiers behind when the time came to escape to space hadn't come easily to him.

The subsequent encounter with Rondo Ghina Sahaku had done little to change his opinion of Orb, despite the man's arrogance; he was one man, and his attitude was more than outweighed by Dearka's experiences fighting alongside the _Kusanagi_ and her pilots, from Mendel on through the war of attrition True ZAFT had waged afterwards… on through the Second Battle of Jachin Due.

Second Jachin had effectively destroyed any distinction between the diverse groups that made up True ZAFT. _Archangel_ and _Odin_ had come from the Earth Alliance, _Arkbird, Asmodeus,_ and _Eternal_ from ZAFT, and _Kusanagi_ from Orb… and none of it mattered at all, as they fought, bled, and died together, to stop that terrible battle.

And now… he was going to have to fire on them.

"Attention, Section Nine and ZAFT units," Dearka's speakers said again. "You have ignored our warning, and engaged in hostilities with our allies among the Earth Alliance. Therefore, you leave us no choice but to-"

A beam of coherent emerald light split the heavens, catching the lead Murasame just behind the nose. Melting through just behind the antibeam shield that formed the nose, the beam incinerated the connections between shield and main body, before ripping out and lancing down into the ocean.

The nose ripped free, and the Murasame, suddenly far less stable, snapped into an uncontrolled tumble, whirling away from the main formation.

"Seeing as we 'engaged in hostilities' before you even issued the warning," Mu said irately, "that was a little late!" Clipping his rifle to his right thigh, he yanked out a beam saber, ignited its fiery crimson blade, and dove in toward the oncoming formation.

"You're insane," Dearka commented conversationally. "But since we're the only ones here…" Shaking his head in resignation, he let his own ranged weapons fall back to their mounts… and lifted the enormous zweihander sword from its place on one of his thruster pods. "Let's do this."

The Murasames were already scattering in all directions, firing as the opportunity arose but otherwise trying to get away to more advantageous positions, while the Shrike-equipped Astrays rose up from below to take their place… square in the path of GAT-X105 Strike.

Flinging his shield out to one side to spatter a bolt from a Murasame beam cannon, Mu dove straight in at the Astray Shrikes. One immediately opened fire on him, spitting emerald darts as fast as its Type 71 rifle could cycle… but Mu knew all about the M1's weaponry and capabilities. An impressive machine against other opponents, it was very vulnerable indeed to someone who knew its weaknesses.

Mu jinked Strike violently, letting beams streak past mere meters from head, right arm, and torso, driving forward with his machine's full thrust as he did so. Not even bothering to slow down as he neared his target, he sped onward, and slashed… catching the first Astray Shrike right in its left rotor.

With a shriek of protesting metal, the rotor chewed itself to pieces, spewing out chunks of rotor blades in all directions, as it tried to rotate against the energy blade. Then, with a final scream and sputter of mechanical anguish, the enter rotor housing exploded, flinging debris everywhere.

Now propelled by only a single rotor, the M1 flew into a violent spin, its pilot suddenly too busy trying not to pass out to actually shoot at anything.

Letting his shield hang from its arm attachment point, Mu shifted his saber to his left hand, and pulled out his rifle again. "By the way," he called to Dearka, while simultaneously taking an emerald dart on the upper edge of his shield and lining up on a Recon Murasame, "where's Cagalli, anyway? I figured she'd have wanted to get in on this one, too."

"Strike Rouge was down for maintenance," Buster's pilot replied, swinging his heavy blade -nicknamed the "buster sword", partly in honor of the machine that carried it- down into the left wing root of a Murasame. "I saw her down in the hangar just before we left, cursing up a storm. She's trying to get it ready as soon as possible, so we might be seeing her later." With a horrible screech of abused metal, the huge sword ripped through the Murasame's wing, severing structural connections, hydraulic lines, and power conduits through a combination of keen edge and sheer mass.

Even as Buster's target spiraled out of control, a burst of green light from Strike caught the Recon Murasame at the joint between radome and fuselage. It was a glancing blow, merely melting a furrow a third of the way through the mount… but it was enough to cause the entire radome to wobble in its rotation.

The first clue the pilot had that something was wrong was the way his radar display went crazy; then the instability caught up with him, and his greatest concern was suddenly with controlling his careening machine, all thought of offensive action -or even continuing to act as an AWACS- completely forgotten.

"Well," Mu remarked, spinning around to whip his saber into the right wing joint of another Murasame, "looks like we'll at least be able to manage by ourselves for a while."

"Yeah." With a quick tap at his instrument panel, Dearka activated a special AI within Buster's mainframe… and deployed the four weapon pods attacked to his thruster units. Quickly taking to the sky on their own thrusters, the four "Death Blossom" wired gunbarrels spiraled out, their AI program merely waiting for a target before engaging with the system's beam cannons. "And besides… this way she doesn't have to face the choice we do."

* * *

Emerald fire streaked past Strike Noir, nearly blasting its head off… and more bolts flew around it, coming in from more directions than even its pilot could engage simultaneously. Caught by the limits of the machine, she was also caught in a web of fire.

The X105E was surrounded by no fewer than seven of the remaining eight Windams. While pieces of their fellows, shredded by Millenia Crescent's efforts, fell toward the ocean below even now, the survivors clustered around her like a swarm of hornets… wielding stings far deadlier than those granted to mere insects.

"We've got her now," the lead Windam pilot called to his fellows. "Even the great Black Widow can't dodge_ this_ for very long!" Grinning wolfishly, he fired two quick shots at Strike Noir, and was only mildly annoyed to see the machine's borrowed shield swat them aside. "Keep it up!"

_Well, this _is_ something of a problem, I'll admit,_ Millenia thought to herself, flipping Strike Noir end for end, before launching into a seemingly insane dive toward the ocean. _Seven against one… even I don't like these odds. Well, that's the breaks in this business…_

"Don't let her get away!" the Windam leader barked. "Fire at will!"

The nimble machines quickly flipped, following Strike Noir into the dive, and together unleashed a massive missile salvo from their Striker pack wings. Forming essentially a cloud of guided high explosives, they flew on ahead of the Earth Forces mobile suits, locked directly onto Strike Noir's thermal signature.

Millenia glanced back at her pursuers, and snorted in surprised disgust. "Regular missiles against VPS? Don't make me la-"

An emerald dart smashed into one of the missiles, ripping it apart in an explosive premature detonation… a detonation that instantly spread across to the rest of the salvo, the blast front and shrapnel from the first warhead ripping into the others, with predictably destructive results. In seconds, the cloud of metal had become one of flaming shards, as sympathetic explosions blew every missile apart.

It took an instant for Millenia to understand what that meant… and then understanding came, as a fusillade of green beams burst out of the impromptu smokescreen, raining down on her machine without giving any clue as to where the next blast would come.

A bolt grazed her right shoulder, tearing a jagged gash through the armor itself, and ripping one of the unused Striker pack brackets right off; another struck her left ankle, and the entire foot tore off in a screech of tormented metal Where once had been a foot was now only sparking, melted circuitry at the end of a stump.

_It's a good thing that smoke leaves them as blind as I am,_ Millenia thought, cursing vilely as another beam blasted a ragged-edged hole through Strike Noir's left bicep. _Otherwise, I'd already be dead! But they've also given me just the opening I need…_

Rolling over so that Strike Noir was now falling back first, she thrust out the machine's abused left arm, hurling the borrowed shield straight up at the smokescreen… and even as it flew, she pulled out her second short beam rifle, leaving it and its mate at the manmade cloud.

As she'd intended, the shield was quickly caught in the cascade of green fire, coming alive with bright light; bolts were absorbed, spattered, and outright ricocheted off the shield, its enemies unaware of the obstacle to their fire.

The emerald tide's impacts spun the shield into a blurring tumble, resulting in energy bolts flying off in all directions… until one struck the shield on its back, instead of the antibeam-coated front. With a _snap_ nearly audible to Millenia herself, the shield broke if half, its two pieces spiraling off into the night sky.

By which time Millenia already had both beam rifles leveled, and both linear cannons swung into firing position.

Two seconds after the shield snapped, the Windams came charging through the smokescreen at last. They'd ceased firing momentarily, thinking that, perhaps, they'd already gotten their prey… and that faint hope resulted in several deaths, for damaged through Strike Noir was, toothless it was _not._

The lead Windam pilot saw the Strike Noir below them, its rifles' muzzles glowing green and linear cannons almost visibly crackling with electricity, and froze. _She's about to-!_ He opened his mouth to scream a warning-

Linear cannon shells smashed into his Jet Striker's wings, colliding with enough force to snap them like twigs; they whirled off into the darkness, broken cleanly off, and leaving the Windam to fall… right into a pair of emerald darts, both of which caught it in the torso. The entire machine snapped back, two holes melted clean through its outer armor. As it began to tumble back, sparks and molten metal flew out of the holes…

With a sound like a thunderclap, the mobile suit seemed to crumple inward, then blew apart explosively in a shower of flame, shrapnel, and molten metal.

The next machine's pilot barely even had time to recognize what had happened to his superior when the cyborg pilot's gaze snapped over to him… along with her beam rifles. He'd just begun raising his own rifle to return fire on his commander's killer when Strike Noir's twin rifles opened up.

One emerald dart crashed into the Windam's rifle, just behind the muzzle; the intense heat and kinetic energy of the blast first began to splinter the metal, then superheated it to the melting point. Suddenly pliable, the rifle barrel bent upward, stretched, and snapped off, whirling off into the sky.

An instant later, the remains of the rifle ripped themselves apart, sending a power surge up through the hand's power plugs at the same time… which mattered little to the pilot, as the second shot had smashed right through his cockpit hatch, vaporized him, and continued on its way out the back of the machine.

The Windam's thrusters flickered, sputtered, and died, leaving the pilotless mobile suit to fall almost gracefully out of the sky.

"She really _is_ a Black Widow!" the third Windam pilot burst out. "Scatter!"

Having had the benefit of their fellows' bad experiences to draw on, the remaining five enemy machines managed to fan out to either side before Strike Noir's vengeful beams could reach them , and they now powered into an even faster dive, trying to get around to the ZAFT unit's flanks. _If we can get out of her line of sight,_ the new leader thought, muttering a prayer under his breath, _we can still-_

Millenia clipped her left-hand rifle to its thigh mount, yanked out her remaining beam sword, and spun toward a Windam on her left.

The startled pilot was quick enough to pull out a blade of his own, snapping up the rod of frozen fire just in time to stop a slash at his torso. "I need some help here!" he screamed. "She's too-!"

Strike Noir's right knee took the Windam in the pelvis, jarring the pilot and forcing his blade back… and Millenia's sword swept into the gap, its ethereal edge crashing into the machine's right hip. Its hot, keen edge ate through armor as though it didn't exist, ripping up through metal, circuits, and power conduits on its through to the other side, before ripping out the left shoulder.

Torn completely in half, the Windam started to slide apart, and exploded two seconds later, consumed by a ball of fire.

Millenia started to turn toward the next target, taking advantage of the sheer surprise she was generating… only to see the tip of a crimson blade suddenly emerge from its hatch, as through someone had ignited a saber from within. It seemed to sit there for a moment, crackling against the surrounding armor… then ripped out to one side, tearing through the Windam's outer armor with contemptuous ease.

Now reduced to a sparking, smoldering hulk, the Earth Forces machine fell away, secondary explosions beginning to tear apart what remained of it, and the machine that had done the deed swung its blade up into position before its right shoulder. "Anyone else care to play?" Tom Delaney said in a low, dangerous voice, even as the gold Murasame settled into the classic Ganryu School stance.

The three remaining Windams backed off, keeping their shields between themselves and their seemingly demonic foes as they attempted to regroup.

"Nice one, Tom," Millenia said approvingly, raising her right hand in a quick thumbs-up. "What say you and I clean house, hm?"

"Yeah," the ex-Gray Demon agreed grimly. "And better make it fast; I caught the fringes of a transmission from _Dominion,_ one directed toward space. I don't know what was going on there, but I somehow doubt it was good."

* * *

_I never thought I'd think this,_ Allen Hamilton thought, performing a complicated pirouette to escape fire from three different directions, _but I actually kind of wish Roanoke was here. I don't approve of how he came to be, and I know he's not very fond of me, either… but this situation is getting just a bit out of hand. Nightwing's presence would be welcome about now._

Hamilton had already begun to realize why Freedom and Justice were considered by some to be unstoppable; he didn't entirely agree with the assessment -he _was_ still alive, after all- but he could see how it might've arisen, considering the problems he was having with them now.

"Give it up, Hamilton," Athrun called, recalling his subflight lifter even as he spoke. _"Dominion_'s already taken heavy damage, you've lost most of your mass-produced units, and Orb's units are being tied up in knots by just two of ours. Can't you see that this is over?"

"Over?" Hamilton barked a harsh laugh, spun toward Justice, and fired off an emerald dart from his rifle, before juking left to let one from Freedom scorch past. "Over? Not hardly. You've still got _my_ team to deal with… and last I heard from Sigma, your friend the Demon Lord wasn't doing so well."

"If you think Falcon is going to go down that easily, forget it," Athrun shot back, slapping the bolt aside with his shield. "He's survived a lot worse than you!"

"He's right," Kira agreed. "I fought him at Second Jachin. He's as arrogant as they come, sometimes, but he's got the skill to back it up." Spreading Freedom's wings, he unfolded his many and varied cannons, lifted his rifle, and sent another barrage of kinetic shell and energy fire at the Earth Forces machine.

Zeta snapped into mobile armor mode, lit off its thrusters, and rolled away in a desperate evasion maneuver… one which led to a curse from Hamilton as one of Freedom's plasma bolts actually connected, the red-orange beams ripping clean through one of his port verniers in a spray of shrapnel and molten metal. An explosion followed quickly, as the damaged vernier immolated itself in a ball of fire.

"Even the Demon Lord can be killed," Hamilton snapped now, kicking his thrusters to flip into a punishing Immelmann turn back toward his enemies. "We may have gone into this battle less prepared than we thought, but I assure you we took into account the possibility of Preybird; his presence at Break The World was proof enough that the machine still existed… and Project Zeta was made as his antithesis. Sigma's going to show him that he's not infallible… and I'm going to show _you_ the same thing."

The panels that carried Zeta's beam sabers opened up… and to the surprise of both allied pilots, the saber tips glowed the same green as Zeta's rifle, just before spitting bursts of emerald fire in tandem with the rifle.

Athrun reacted by instantly rocketing up and out of the way, letting the bolts from Zeta's rifle pass harmlessly between his legs… but Kira was not so fortunate. He was forced to snap his shield up to interdict, and he winced as rapid-fire bolts from what normally functioned as Zeta's beam sabers pounded against it.

Kira threw Freedom back, using the energy imparted from the high-speed fire to aid his retreat, then flipped over and dove. _If I can get a better angle, I can end this, and- What?!_ He cursed vilely -one he'd learned from Ken, on one of the rare occasions the cold-blooded pilot swore at all- as two of Zeta's green darts slammed into Freedom, one melting a gash across his left thigh, the other melting a small but precise hole through the same shoulder.

"One thing you need to realize, Yamato," Hamilton said coolly, converting smoothly back into mobile suit mode. "You may be the Ultimate Coordinator -don't be so shocked; Project Zeta has its sources- but there _are_ some Naturals who can approach your ability, especially with the right hardware support. And Freedom, I'm afraid, isn't quite as cutting edge as it was two years ago, even with the Preybird-based upgrades."

"Unfortunately for you, I see Earth Forces pilots still talk too much!"

Hamilton's eyes widened, and his head snapped around just in time to see Justice falling out of the sky at him, beam staff in hand. His large thrusters at full power, Athrun drove down toward Zeta, and lashed down with all his might.

Things didn't go quite as Athrun had intended; unlike Justice, Zeta had been designed from the ground up to incorporate the frame technology used by Preybird, making it a touch more maneuverable than the older machine… but it wasn't quite enough to fully protect the Earth Forces unit.

Though Zeta started to twist aside, Justice's energy blade caught it in the left forearm, biting into the machine's remaining dual grenade launcher. Armor melted away under the intense heat, the impossibly keen edge slid almost effortlessly into the weapon… and the blade came into direct contact with one of the remaining grenades within, much as an earlier shot from Freedom had done to the other launcher.

Even as the grenade launcher began to rip itself apart from within, the crimson blade cut even farther down, tearing through circuits, armor, and hydraulic lines alike, before ripping out the underside, taking Zeta's left hand with it.

Justice pulled free in a spray of melted armor and vaporized hydraulic fluid, and Zeta's arm tore itself into shrapnel under the force of its own grenades.

Hamilton ignited all of Zeta's thrusters, hurling it back and away, and his eyes were hard as they settled on his opponent. "Maybe we talk more than we should sometimes," he said coldly, "but if you think that was enough to take me out of the fight, you're-"

He broke off so suddenly that Kira and Athrun exchanged bemused glances on their com screens. _What's with him?_ Kira wondered. _Did he suddenly decide Athrun was right, or…?_

"No!"

The sudden exclamation startled both _Archangel_ pilots. So far, Allen Hamilton had been fully as cool and collected as his father once was, so what could possibly have angered him so badly? _And come to think of it,_ Athrun realized, _he sounds frightened, too…_

"Djibril, you lunatic!" Hamilton exploded, reading the message that had appeared on his display. "This is… They'll have your head for this, you incompetent maniac!"

Kira almost asked the Earth Forces pilot what had him so bothered -judging from his tone, there was a reasonable chance he'd actually answer- but a flare of light off toward the _Archangel_ caught his eye, and he turned his attention back to Ken's engagement with Sigma at last… just in time to see everything go haywire.

* * *

Preybird flung itself to the right, just barely avoiding an other blast from Sigma's hellish rifle. _What on earth _is_ that thing?_ Ken DiFalco wondered, cursing under his breath. _I knew it was somehow able to smash a standard antibeam shield, but to pierce an energy shield to easily…_  
After the first shot had ripped off his left arm -and his primary ranged weapon with it- Ken had been forced to go into a series of violent evasive maneuvers, not trusting his remaining shield to stand up to the weapon… a strategy which had so far rendered him effectively impotent, unable to take the offensive again for fear of being blown up the instant he stopped dodging.

"Surprised, Demon Lord?" Pike said now, smiling savagely. "You obviously knew of these weapons, after my encounter with the Duel earlier this month, but I see you never understood just how it could be done… or that the same effect could work on your beam shields."

Ken would've accused the man of wasting too much of his concentration on talking, but another red-orange bolt interrupted his thoughts by nearly taking his head off… along with a good chunk of his torso, as Pike had apparently abandoned the tight-focus shots for the time being.

_Besides,_ he thought, cartwheeling right to let twin bolts scorch past his left wings, _this pilot seems to have an unusual capacity for multitasking. He's letting one part of his brain handle conversation, while the majority attempts to shoot me dead._

"You can't keep dodging forever, Demon Lord," Pike informed him, boosting toward him now. "Sooner or later, the odds will catch up even with you… especially if you refuse to fight back." He shook his head. "Frankly, I expected better of the man they called the Butcher Bird; letting yourself be pushed back like this-"

Three things happened at once. Preybird's thrusters suddenly flared wildly, stopping its tumbling, its rail cannons snapped up to firing position… and they fired at the same instant as Sigma's VSBRs.

The high-velocity slugs from Preybird slammed into Sigma at several times the speed of sound, crashing into the pair of heretofore unused machine cannons mounted in its torso; their muzzles, unprotected by the machine's VPS, shattered, instantly turned to a mangled ruin… but they were of little importance compared to what happened to Preybird.

The twin bolts of red-orange fire smashed headlong into Ken's rail cannons; transferring enough energy to put a serious strain on a beam shield even at this focus setting, they were more than capable of shredding the cannon barrels, seemingly dissolving them as shreds of metal vaporized the instant they ripped free from the main structure.

The Xiphias rail cannons vanished in twin balls of flame, and the impact rocked Preybird, knocking Ken himself off balance with a curse… one which was repeated with more force when Sigma itself took advantage of his momentary disorientation by slamming bodily into him.

_Son of a-!_ Preybird tumbled back, falling toward the _Archangel_ even as Ken struggled to regain control. The ace was beginning to reach an unusual level of stress, with pressure starting to build in the back of his mind, and there didn't seem to be much he could do about it, even with Preybird's normally overwhelming agility.

Pike wasn't inclined to give him any chance to recover, either. "It's over, Demon Lord," he called, and slammed Sigma's right fist into the tumbling Preybird's torso, sending it even farther out of control. "You've finally met your match today; you may indeed have an edge in piloting over me… but Preybird is no longer the pinnacle of mobile suit design, and it's time you learned that first hand!" Feeding more power into his thrusters to keep pace with the spinning Preybird, he launched a rising knee into the Section Nine machine's pelvis.

Ken grunted at the impact, and fought to maintain his own focus as dizziness began to take hold of him. _Can't… let… this… keep up… If he can stop Preybird, he can defeat almost anything, and that… I cannot permit…_

The pressure began to mount ever more steadily…

"There's no point in drawing this out any further," Pike said quietly. "I've no intention of making the mistake of giving you time to recover, Demon Lord." With the air of someone preparing to deliver the coup de grace, he rose up, then slammed his right foot down on Preybird's head, launching it into a death spiral toward the _Archangel_'s forward deck. "You don't have what it takes after all!"

Both VSBRs swung forward, their grips coming neatly into Sigma's hands, and Pike quickly set them back to tight focus; the area of effect would be much smaller, requiring greater precision in his targeting, but he had no intention of taking the chance of Preybird blocking at the last instant. This would be the final shot… and Jonas Pike would, just incidentally, go down in history as the man who finally brought down the Demon Lord.

Preybird crashed into _Archangel_'s forward deck, startling the ship's bridge crew… and as Pike's fingers squeezed on the triggers, a Prussian blue seed burst like a nuclear bomb behind the Demon Lord's eyes.

_I have you now!_ Pike thought, feeling more satisfied than he ever had in his life as his final bolts of tight-focused coherent light streaked down toward the crimson and gray machine. One-armed, devoid of ranged weaponry, and kneeling helplessly on the deck, ZGMF-X00A Preybird was finally about to meet its-

The machine's single remaining hand grasped the hilt over its right hip, and a bright blade flashed out of its scabbard, intersecting the VSBR bolts an instant before contact could be made with Preybird's fuselage.

Pike gaped in shock as the twin stilettos of red fire ricocheted off into the night sky, leaving nary a scorch mark on the Gerbera Straight. "What the-?! _Impossible!"_

It simply didn't make logical sense. The VSBRs had demonstrated the ability to shatter an antibeam shield with a single shot; he'd done it to Yzak Joule's X102 Duel, and even broke through Preybird's left beam shield with it. By everything that Pike knew, there simply was no way Preybird could've done what it just had, even had it not been savagely beaten already.

Shaking his head, breaking free of his shock-induced paralysis, Pike quickly fired again. _The first shots _had_ to have weakened it,_ he told himself. _This will-_

The massive katana slashed back across, and this time the fiery bolts nearly destroyed Sigma itself on their way back… and would have, had Pike's reflexes not been honed by months of training exercises, both live and in simulators.

Even as the Earth Alliance pilot stared in utter incomprehension, Preybird came back to its feet, and lifted back into the air with a bright flare from its thrusters. "Permit me to enlighten you about something, Pike," the Demon Lord said calmly, rising back up to Sigma's altitude. "You made three mistakes. First was assuming Preybird's age offset my piloting abilities to a greater extent than is actually the case. The second was your mistaken belief that antibeam shields and beam deflection swords work on the same principle. It's true that both use antibeam coating… but the metal and geometry also plays an important part with the sword. The interaction of the unique alloy with both the antibeam coating and the way that coating is _applied_ results in a surface that does not absorb, but rather deflect energy; as such, it will stand up even to a positron cannon for brief periods. Your rifles are impressive, but can be defeated just as easily if an opportunity presents itself."

Pike swallowed hard, and made a mental note to join his commander in screaming at Intelligence… assuming he made it back from this mission alive. "And… and the third mistake?" he bit out, gaze locked on the one-armed machine.

He got his answer even before Ken spoke, as blade-like sections began to fall free from each of his ten wings. "The third mistake derives from the fact that so little sensor data on Preybird survived the Battle of Orb, three years ago. Clearly, the ships close enough to see some of my more… unique maneuvers either failed to survive at all, or had computer damage from Azrael's idiotic nuclear attack. Otherwise, you would never have assumed that I had lost all ranged capability."

The units of Preybird's DRAGOON system spread out around it, settling into a clock-like circle around Preybird itself, anchored by one unit over its head, and another between its feet. Then they began to slowly rotate clockwise, in a pattern Kira Yamato would've recognized from the one and only time he engaged Preybird himself.

Then the Gerbera swung out to one side, pointing down and to the right of the mobile suit… while at the same time, Preybird's thrusters began to flare. "Let's begin round two, Commander Pike," Major Kenneth DiFalco said softly… and Preybird began to rush forward across the night sky…

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

In the aftermath of the failed assassination attempt on the Clyne family and the utter destruction of Section Nine's planetary headquarters, an even greater battle has begun in the skies outside Orb. Ships and machines from four different groups join into two distinct factions, and fire rages across the night sky. The Earth Alliance has begun to lose ground… but a counterattack awaits, as does Lord Djibril's final plan…

Well, well… I do believe this is the longest chapter I have _ever_ written, eclipsing its predecessor by nearly three thousand words. So, if it's rather late, it's not for lack of trying on my part. The fact is, I'd actually intended to wrap up the battle with this chapter, but I see now that if I'd tried, it would've covered as much as another ten thousand words.

And to think my chapters were under _one_ thousand words, when I first started writing.

One thing I should mention, by the way: if anyone is interested in an AU take on the original _Birds of a Feather_, Wild Goose 01 has posted a story called _March to the Future_, providing a new take on how the war could go with certain additional factors.

At any rate, this chapter is now -finally- complete; and, as per standard procedure, my next update will also be a chapter of this, so the cliffhanger should be resolved relatively quickly (I say relatively because one never knows how long my chapters may get).

One final note I should make, before I wrap this up: I realize my responses to people have been a bit slow lately, and I apologize. I should, however, take this opportunity to warn that that may be the norm for the time being. I've been extremely busy lately, so if my replies are late, it's more like that I simply haven't had time to get to them, not that I've forgotten them entirely.

That everything? Good. Once you've waded through this mass of typing, please let me know what you though. -Solid Shark


	14. Chapter 14: Sympathy for the Devil

-1I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

Also, all references to characters and events from the Equatorial Union Civil War are property of Ominae; for further information, see his story "Rebellion"

* * *

Orb Coastal Waters, February 25th, C.E. 74

* * *

Jonas Pike came very close to death within two seconds of ZGMF-X00A Preybird's sudden recovery.

Even before the one-armed machine reached him, the circling DRAGOON emitters opened fire, spitting forty streaks of coherent light across the sky in a tide of emerald fire; only Pike's quick reactions saved Sigma from instant immolation, as he threw the machine to one side with all the thruster power he had available.

_A DRAGOON system in atmosphere,_ he thought with an inner chill. _I thought those were space-use only… but I guess _anything_ can fly with enough raw power behind it. And if there's any machine with power to burn, it's that one…_

He didn't have much time to ponder the matter. Split seconds after he avoided total annihilation, he had to quickly pull out and activate a beam saber; its fiery crimson blade ignited an instant before Preybird's Gerbera Straight could crash into Sigma's torso.

"Not bad, Pike," Ken DiFalco said easily, pressing the huge katana against the interdicting beam saber with all the strength in Preybird's remaining arm. "Most pilots would've been killed right then and there; there aren't many who can successfully evade a DRAGOON barrage."

"Pilots like that wouldn't have been selected for Project Zeta in the first place," Pike bit out through gritted teeth, pushing back with desperate strength. He knew about Preybird's sword: though it was physical, it was capable of damaging even phase-shift armor, thanks to the addition of trans-phase armor of its own.

_If I let that get through, he can kill me very, very quickly…_

Without warning, he took Sigma's left hand off the saber's hilt, chancing Preybird overpowering him for a chance to end it all. "In fact," Pike grunted, commanding his left VSBR to swing forward, "we were selected in part to directly counter you, so only the very best were selected for-"

Preybird slammed a knee into Sigma's pelvis, forcing the machine back… which, to Pike's surprise, made it even easier for him to bring his VSBR into firing position. Taking advantage of his enemy's seemingly foolhardy move, he gripped the weapon's handle, started to pull the trigger-

The Gerbera slashed down with startling speed, crashing into the top of the rifle's barrel. Forced down, it spat a bolt of red-orange fire harmlessly toward the sea… and then the blade's impossibly keen edge tore down through the barrel's outer surface, penetrating through its superficial armor, cutting through emitter systems and energy transfer circuits, and ripped out the bottom in the blink of an eye.

Severed from the rest of the rifle, the tip fell away, tumbling off into darkness.

Ken drew back from Sigma for a moment, and gazed at the machine through eyes with wide, dilated pupils. "You still fail to understand your opponent, Pike," he said coldly. "I am the Demon Lord; I fought in every single major space engagement of the First War, and many on Earth, and survived it all. And… I refuse to allow myself to fall until my mission is complete."

Pike bared his teeth in an uncharacteristic snarl. "You arrogant Coordinator," he hissed, gripping his saber in both hands again. "You think you're invincible or something?!" Feeding nearly all of Sigma's reactor output into his thrusters and energy blade, the fiery sword began to pulse with power, expanding outward in an unstable but powerful growth, and his thrusters went to half again their maximum safe output. "Think again, Demon Lord!" the Earth Alliance pilot shouted, and boosted forward.

Watching the other man come, Preybird floated almost motionless in the sky, Ken gazing calmly at the approaching machine… and then his DRAGOON emitters began to open fire, spitting bright laser fire across the sky.

Pike was good; as he'd said, he never would've been selected for Project Zeta without top-notch skills. As such, he was fully capable of using his overcharged thrusters to duck and weave through the oncoming streams of fire… but even he couldn't dodge them all.

A bolt of emerald light sliced into Sigma's right ankle, tearing through armor, hydraulics, and power conduits like an immaterial knife; the entire foot then dropped away, falling toward the darkened ocean, before being struck by another laser blast and simply blown apart. A third bolt ripped through the radiator fins on the machine's left shoulder, tearing them off in a shower of sparks and molten metal, before a fourth crashed into its right thigh.

Shards of armor, fragments of internal frame, and shreds of synthetic nerve fiber and artificial muscle tissue exploded into the night, blasted free from Sigma by the bolt of coherent light. In mere fractions of a second, it ate its way clear through the thigh, tearing apart the frame that made it so maneuverable, and shattered the limb's connection to the rest of the mobile suit.

Undaunted even by the leg falling away from his body, Pike flew on, desperate fury driving him onward, and he never flinched even when a glancing blow struck his torso, obliterating what little remained of an already shattered machine cannon, and nearly penetrating all the way to the cockpit.

_All that matters… is finishing him off! _Pike thought… and then he was through the tide of green fire, his saber plunging toward Preybird's hatch…

As Ken himself had stated in conversation with Millenia Crescent and Shinn Asuka, his preferred method of stopping death blows -the Tsubame Gaeshi- could not be performed by a mobile suit… but that did not mean _none_ of the skills of the Ganryu school could be translated into mobile warfare, nor that the instincts of a professional swordsman did not still apply.

Thus it was with the eyes of an expert with the blade that Ken watched the oncoming strike, his Berserker-enhanced thought processes calculating angles, speeds, and possible counters… and only then did he move.

Preybird's thrusters flared, shoving the machine to the right, while at the same time the Gerbera slashed down, smashing into the upper edge of Sigma's overcharged saber, forcing it down and away. Then, as Sigma began to blaze through the space Preybird had occupied moments before, the blade arced back up and across, following Preybird's own counter-clockwise circle.

The spin carried the katana's slash into Sigma's neck and, with a screech of mechanical agony, sheered right through it, the blade itself flaring for an instant as its trans-phase coating activated. Then it was through, and Sigma's head leapt away, its optics going dark… and the sword moved on.

Pike had no time to check his momentum or even begin to turn before Ken rotated Preybird's wrist ninety degrees, returning the Gerbera to vertical, and chopped down with all the power in Preybird's remaining arm. It first struck the already-damaged VSBR at its attachment point, tearing through the metal with ease; then, as the sparking weapon began to fall away, the katana bit into the top of Sigma's massive thruster bank.

The first Pike knew of the hit was when the uppermost thruster simply exploded, sending a concussion through his cockpit and knocking him as far forward as his restraints would permit; his helmet had just made contact with one of his displays when the _second_ thruster was struck by the cleaving blade, and another explosive blow tore through the machine.

Preybird's blade continued to tear downward, his trans-phase both allowing it to cut through Sigma's VPS and giving it the strength to survive the multiple explosions it was causing, even as chunks of armor and thruster exhauster blasted out into the night sky.

Inside the cockpit was pure pandemonium. Two of Pike's displays had simply exploded, shattering into fragments of advanced plastics as they succumbed to the power of the blast fronts… and by the time the fourth and final back-mounted thruster blew apart, Pike himself had been battered into unconsciousness by the repeated blows.

With the detonation of the final thruster unit, Sigma itself began to go dark, its black and white color flowing away to be replaced by the simple gray of inactive PSA. Its lights went dim, and it began to simply drop, no longer held up even by Preybird's blade.

Ken watched the machine fall, his face quite expressionless. He knew Sigma was repairable, and that Pike himself was likely still alive… but it no longer mattered. _The objective is to escape,_ he thought calmly, slashing an "X" in the air, before smoothly returning the Gerbera to its sheath. _We planned for none of this; we're not ready. Once we reach Carpentaria, and make contact with the Equatorial Union base…_

"Look out, Ken!"

The ace's head snapped around at the unexpected warning, and he kicked Preybird backward even before his brain fully registered the sight his eyes took in: Freedom and Justice, rushing across the sky in his direction… in pursuit of a wedge-like shape, with black and white tiger stripes.

Ken snapped up his sword the instant he _did_ take in the visual data, and prepared to defend himself against this adversary, as well… but Allen Hamilton's Zeta simply rushed on past, apparently uninterested in the damaged -but still dangerous- Section Nine machine. Instead, he flew beyond Preybird, diving down ahead of Sigma; once he'd matched descent rates with his subordinate, he converted smoothly to mobile suit mode, slowed his fall slightly, and gently caught Sigma's battered form.

Ignoring his enemies entirely, Hamilton cut in his remaining thrusters at full power, struggling to break his fall and compensate for the nearly doubled weight. "Jonas, it's Hamilton," he called, face turning even paler than it already was as he took in Sigma's damage. "Blast it, Jonas, if you're at all conscious, answer me! We need to get out of here before that idiot blows us all to kingdom come! Jonas!"

After a moment of silence, Hamilton's speakers crackled with static, and he felt an instant of hope that he might not have to do things the hard way… and then his hopes vanished, as the only other sound to be heard was a low moan.

_Out cold,_ Hamilton thought tensely, his hands tightening on his controls. _Yeah, somebody screwed up big time in planning this op… and now that _idiot_ Djibril is about to make things even worse!_

He didn't even consider trying to countermand the instructive he knew had reached Oscar Goldberg. Even had the new orders not come directly from Lord Djibril himself, Hamilton knew full well Goldberg would not have stopped; and the first rule of command, he knew, was to never give an order he _knew_ wouldn't be obeyed.

Much to his relief, though, his machine, at least, obeyed him, and Zeta began to rise again with minimal protests from its battered arms or reduced thruster complement. _Good,_ he thought, some of the tension easing out of him. _Jonas and I can at least get out of this intact; then I just need to get that idiot Goldberg to pull far enough back that he won't immolate himself when following his orders. How that man got to be a member of Project Zeta, with his idea of common sense…_

Shaking his head, Hamilton banished the irrelevant thoughts, and spun Zeta around. "Another time, Yamato," he called, angling Zeta into forward flight. "This battle could still go either way… but I have more urgent business to attend to."

"You think you're getting away?" Kira Yamato retorted, raising Freedom's rifle. "This isn't-"

"Let him go, Kira," Athrun Zala interrupted sharply. "Our objective today is just to escape, remember? Something about Hamilton's voice tells me we're about to have bigger problems than a couple of retreating mobile suits."

Slowly lowering his Lupus rifle, Kira nodded reluctantly. "You're right. There's no need to kill him today… and I've got a bad feeling about this, too."

"With reason," Ken said quietly, turning Preybird's optics toward_Dominion_'s vicinity… where Shinn Asuka still fought with the bulky machine known as Nova. "Look, you two… Something's happening over there."

His friends turned to follow his gaze, and quickly caught his meaning. Moments before, Impulse and Nova had been engaged in a duel that was surprisingly fast and furious, considering Nova's bulk… but now Nova had paused. It had raised its massive shield, as though to fend off Impulse's attacks long enough to read an incoming message, and now seemed to be lowering its shoulder-mounted bazooka into firing position…

* * *

SNS_Archangel,_ Bridge

* * *

For the first time since the battle began, quiet reigned on _Archangel_'s bridge… a quiet formed by the absence of the constant gunfire, explosions, and energy bolts that had marked the last half hour of the ship's flight.

Captain Murrue Ramius sighed, grateful for the respite. "Damage report?" she asked quietly, no longer needing to shout over the clamor of combat.

"Blocks Nine and Sixteen are still sealed," Petty Officer 1st Class Sai Argyle replied, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Chief Murdoch reports that the damage in that area is contained, however. DCC also reports that the fires in the aft levitator section have been safely contained. We're still combat-capable, Ma'am."

"I'm glad to hear it, Sai," Murrue said sincerely. Considering the pounding the impromptu alliance between Section Nine and ZAFT had taken during the first few minutes of the battle, she'd frankly expected the damage to be worse.

_Much worse,_ she thought, mind flashing back to Second Jachin. _Back then, a single _Archangel_-class nearly destroyed us all by itself, without mobile suit support. If we hadn't had two other ships with us, and if we hadn't upgraded our systems, we'd probably have taken a lot more damage. Which reminds me…_

Murrue glanced back at Communications. "Flay, I need a damage report from_Odin,_ as well. Are they still in fighting trim?"

"They've taken more hits than we have, Captain," Flay reported promptly, voice grim; she'd already been in contact with the other ship, and she didn't like reporting the news any more than her captain liked hearing it. "They've lost an engine and taken damage to the power shunt between reactor and engine room; their thrust has decreased fifteen percent because of it. Forward radar is also down by ten percent, reducing overall point defense efficiency by five percent. Numerous hull breaches also reported, but combat capability otherwise unaffected."

This time, the Captain's sigh was not one of relief. "Understood. And_Minerva?"_

"_Still mostly all right,"_ Captain Talia Gladys replied, from Murrue's right armrest; she'd forgotten the other woman was still in direct communication with _Archangel. "Nothing new since before your trick with the kinetic weapons, at least. What _were_ those, anyway?"_

"Intrepid Hyper-Velocity Weapons," Murrue replied, with a small but genuine smile. "They have to have the entire output of dedicated fission reactors to operate at all, and the rate of fire is very low, but their power more than makes up for it, especially in situations where the Lohengrins aren't a good idea."

"_Yes, I can see that."_ Talia paused. _"What about your mobile suits? From what we could tell, your people were having some trouble."_

This time, it was not Murrue who answered, but rather Lieutenant Miriallia Haw. "Preybird has taken serious damage," she said… but somewhat to Murrue's surprise, she didn't seem very bothered by it. "One arm and both rail cannons have been destroyed… but Sigma has been disabled, Captain, and Zeta is retreating with it."

"That's_very_ good news," Murrue said, smiling broadly now. "If Ken had gotten himself killed before the wedding, I'd never have forgiven him… What about the others?"

"Kira and Athrun have rendezvoused with Ken," Mir replied, tapping at her console. "Mu and Dearka are still engaging Orb units, but don't appear to be encountering much difficulty; Tom is helping Commander Crescent against the Earth Forces' mass-production units, but likewise seems to be doing all right."

"_And with _Dominion_ in rough straights,"_ Talia said thoughtfully, _"it looks like we may be almost out of this. Malik,"_ she called, speaking to her own helmsman, _"what's our ETA to Orb's border? I don't think even the Earth Forces will pursue us very far outside Orb waters, under the circumstances."_

"_ETA is five minutes, Captain,"_ Malik Yardbirds replied. _"Slightly more for _Odin,_ but-"_

"Status change!" Mir interrupted sharply, gazing down at her telemetry displays. "Sensor relay from Preybird… Captain, radiation surge consistent with armed nuclear warhead detected on Nova!"

Eyes widening, Murrue started to turn her head toward Mir… and at that moment, a column of light struck less than ten meters off _Archangel_'s port bow. The impact vaporized water and set off a concussive blast sufficient to toss _Archangel_ sideways, coming close to actually flipping the entire ship.

Before Murrue could begin to react to that event, it was repeated several times over. Miraculously, none of the objects struck the ship herself, but the concussion of repeated explosions in close proximity set off multitudes of alarms, and sent Sophia DiFalco sprawling out of her chair; only her hastily-donned helmet saved the pilot from concussion… or worse.

"Damage to levitators!" Arnold Neumann shouted over the din. "I'm losing ship's stability!"

"Prepare for emergency water landing!" Murrue barked back, regaining a trace of equilibrium as the terrible barrage began to subside at last. "Where did those kinetic strikes come from?!"

Only kinetic weapons could've done that, she knew. The column of light clearly indicated an object superheated by the friction of its own passage… and only heavy kinetic weapons produced the explosion pattern they'd just experienced.

"Strikes originated from orbit, Ma'am!" Jackie Tonomura reported. "Probably from the same ship that engaged Saito earlier… Captain, I'm detecting two more ships, at twelve o'clock high!"

This time, Murrue _did_ have time to look where her subordinate was indicating before anything else happened… and even as _Archangel_ plowed almost gracefully into the ocean surface, she recognized the sleek shapes coming out of the night sky, and realized that the Earth Alliance's reinforcements had arrived.

* * *

Earth Alliance Forces Archangel-class Mobile Assault Ship LCAM-03A _Ophanim,_ Bridge

* * *

"Approaching battle area now, Captain," Lieutenant Roger Simpson reported from the helm. "Right on schedule."

"_Dominion_'s location confirmed, Sir," Lieutenant Michael Garibaldi announced from CIC. "She's taken some bad hits, Captain, but she's still in the game… barely."

Captain Andre Lewis nodded. "Understood, both of you. Admiral?" he went on, turning to the flag officer's chair. "May I suggest engaging the enemy in _Dominion_'s support, Sir? As things stand, Nova and a few of the mass-production suits seem to be the only forces still actively engaged… and the MP units are being savaged by the 105E and a Murasame."

"Do it," Vice Admiral Cyril Kimmer ordered without hesitation. "And send out our own units… except the 3rd CTAT. I want to keep them in reserve unless absolutely necessary, Andre. Oh, and instruct _Thor_ to engage, as well."

"Aye, Sir." Lewis nodded to Lieutenant Lyle Ogden, at Communications. "Pass the word, Lyle: _Thor_ is to engage the enemy as soon as they're in range. Lieutenant Stevens," he continued, looking down into CIC, "instruct the Windam team to launch at once, and put Major Willet on standby."

"Right away, Sir," Ogden acknowledged, and began muttering into his headset.

"Already on it, Captain," Robert Stevens replied from flight control, and raised a hand to his own headset. "Major Paulson, you're cleared for immediate launch. All Windams are to be deployed immediately."

"_Departing for catapult deck,"_ Major Ron Paulson answered. _"We'll be out there shortly."_

"Good. Major Willet," Stevens continued, "you're to remain on standby for now. The 3rd CTAT is to be the reserve for this operation."

"_Considering our reputation and equipment,"_ an English-accented female voice said dryly, _"I can't say I'm surprised. We'll be ready if needed, Lieutenant."_

Effectively oblivious to the exchange as he went about his own duties, Ogden finally looked up, and turned to Lewis. _"Thor_ copies the new orders, Captain. They're going on ahead now."

"Excellent, Lyle."

On_Ophanim_'s main display, the other ship began to smoothly pull ahead of the _Archangel_-class ship, assuming its assigned position on the bigger ship's forward flank. Fully as graceful as_Ophanim_ herself, if in a different way, she would once have been a very rare sight indeed… and this was the first time she -or any of her sisters, for that matter- was taking on her intended role, for she was an _Odin_-class ship, much like one of the vessels they had come to hunt.

The_Odin_-class had originally been intended as escorts for the_Archangel_-class mobile assault ships, functioning essentially as smaller, fleeter versions of the powerful warships; in that role, they were theoretically ideal… but the original _Odin_ had disappeared after the ZAFT attack on Heliopolis, and for some months had been assumed lost in the battle. By the time anyone knew differently, most of the ship's original officers were dead, and_Odin_ herself had left Earth Alliance service entirely… as had the first ship of the class she was meant to escort in the first place.

In theory, the original _Dominion_ should have been accompanied by an _Odin_-class herself, but in the chaos of the last months of the First War, only two more had been constructed, and that same chaos had resulted in them being assigned to completely different fleets… a fact which might well have saved the _Archangel_ from destruction, in _Dominion_'s final engagement.

But that war was long over now, and Earth Alliance's Table of Organization had settled down considerably in the time since. Third Jachin had been so thoroughly concentrated on the nuclear attack that Djibril and Admiral Sykes had ignored the consideration then, but for this operation, Kimmer had finally gotten _Ophanim_ her matching escort ship, and was intent on making sure _all_ further operations had the two ship classes paired, as they were originally meant to be.

_But for now,_ Kimmer thought to himself, leaning back in his chair, _we need to finish off _this_ nuisance. We should've dealt with Section Nine long ago; their high-handed attack on Phantom Pain's Greenland base should've been proof enough of that. Now they've helped _Minerva_ savage _Dominion,_ and with some weapon no has even heard-_

A staccato series of impacts -followed instantly by explosions- crashed into _Ophanim_'s stern, and Kimmer jerked upright in his chair. "What the-?!"

Lewis' head whipped around at the same moment, and he started to bark a demand at Garibaldi… and at that moment, a progression of fire burst into existence through the bridge's forward viewports, as half a dozen missiles slammed into _Thor_'s tail fin.

The fiery explosions were swiftly followed by a fast-moving object, which streaked across the night sky on twin jets of fire; appearing at first bright silver, it had shifted briefly to gunmetal gray and then slate gray by the time it arced out of sight, curving toward_Dominion_'s area.

"What on earth just happened?!" Lewis demanded. "What was that?!"

"Enemy mobile armor confirmed," Garibaldi reported in disbelief. "It was in freefall until just a moment ago; thermal sensors didn't pick it up until two seconds before it opened fire. Type…" He blinked, tapped furiously at his console, and shook his head in confusion. "Type unknown, Captain! Its design doesn't match anything in our database!"

Kimmer swore under his breath. _Section Nine,_ he thought irately. _It has to be; those bastards keep coming up with new tricks, just like that hellish weapon they hit _Dominion_ with…_

"Instruct Major Paulson to take it under fire," he ordered, hoping the calm decisiveness of his own voice would break through the incipient shock of his flagship's bridge crew. "Meanwhile, take _Archangel_ and her escorts under fire with everything we have. I want that ship_dead."_

"Understood, Sir," Lewis replied, and nodded up at Lieutenant Brian O'Malley, manning fire control. "Target Gottfrieds on the _Archangel,_ and launch Sledgehammers and Valiant shells at _Minerva;_ we'll let _Thor _deal with _Odin_ for the time being."

"Roger that, Captain," O'Malley acknowledged. "Fire plan Alpha-Three locked in; now coordinating targeting with _Thor_'s fire control." He paused a beat, watching as numbers and vectors came together on his display, then nodded sharply. "Engaging the enemy, Sir."

* * *

Orb Coastal Waters

* * *

Athrun cursed, seeing the new arrivals… and the kinetic strikes that had nearly capsized _Archangel._ "Reinforcements," he hissed. "At a time like this…"

"I know," Kira agreed, with a weary sigh. "But we only need to hold them off a little longer, Athrun. Let's leave the ships to Murrue and the others, and finish the mobile suits; there's only one X-number left in the battle, and even with the new machines coming up off _Ophanim,_ the mass-production models shouldn't be too much of a problem." He glanced over at Preybird. "Ken, I think you should leave the rest to us. Preybird's already damaged, and I know that look in your eye. If you don't land soon…"

On his display, Ken merely nodded wearily; he knew as well as Kira the significance of his current enhanced mental state… and its aftereffects. He'd only been in the so-called "Berserker" state a handful of times over his career, but each and every time he'd lost consciousness immediately afterward.

"Yes," he said now, voice barely audible. "In fact, I'm feeling a bit tired now…"

The ace trailed off, and he slumped back in his seat, single visible eye falling shut as a powerful wave of fatigue swept him into unconsciousness.

Kira blinked, startled by the suddenness of his friend's collapse; but before he could move to aid what he assumed would be an out-of-control Preybird, a circuit in the machine's computers clicked. Bio-monitors built into the pilot's couch determined that the pilot was no longer conscious, triggering a limited autopilot system. Before it even had time to begin falling, Preybird's thrusters flared, the machine turned, and its autopilot began flying it to the nearest safe deck.

"Guess he took precautions after Jachin," Athrun remarked; any trace of relaxation vanished from his face and voice a moment later, though, as he returned his attention to the currently static encounter between Impulse and Nova. "Kira… I don't like the look of that," he said quietly. "He's been like for that for at least thirty seconds now. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Kira nodded slowly. "Yeah. That bazooka of his isn't a normal-"

A bolt of emerald light tore past Freedom's head, missing its communications antenna by less than two meters.

Another bolt scorched in on a direct line to Freedom's cockpit, but this time Kira reacted with combat-honed reflexes, spinning the mobile suit around and snapping up his shield to intercept the bolt of coherent light. "They're more of those new models, Athrun!" he called, even as another bolt spattered harmlessly against his shield. "We have to deal with these guys first!"

Athrun threw Justice to the right, allowing a green dart to burn past, and snapped up his own rifle in response. "Yeah," he agreed grimly. "Whatever's going on with Nova, we'll have to leave it to Impulse… and hope Falcon managed to teach that kid some sense."

Nodding in silent agreement, Kira lifted his rifle, narrowed his eyes… and fired, sending an emerald streak of his own up at the Windam that had fired on him. _No need to kill,_ he thought to himself, as the beam crashed into the Windam's right shoulder. _Not yet. These guys aren't enough of a threat to warrant that…_

The energy blast impacted exactly where Kira had intended, ripping directly into the shoulder joint. Kinetic energy from the strike shattered outer armor, thermal bloom chewed at circuits, hydraulics, and cables, and sheer force blasted it out the other side.

With the joint completely destroyed, the entire arm fell away, carrying the Windam's rifle with it on a journey to Davy Jones' Locker.

Kira Yamato had realized, in his duel with Preybird at Second Jachin, that there _were_ times when killing was necessary. Some opponents could be stopped no other way, and sometimes there simply wasn't time to risk the attempt, as had been the case early in this engagement… but now, with the three ships nearing the Orb border, Kira saw no reason to kill the pilot of a mere mass-production unit.

_Be glad you're not worth it,_ he told the other pilot silently. _I don't like killing, and I don't if I don't have to, but when everything is on the line, I won't hesitate…_

Now flying back to back, Freedom and Justice engaged the Windams from_Ophanim_ and _Thor,_ and hoped the others would soon accomplish their own tasks.

* * *

It was with confused suspicion that Shinn Asuka observed the actions of GAT-X507 Nova. Moments before, he'd been engaged in a surprisingly fast blade duel with the Earth Alliance machine, exchanging blows with Nova's powerful saber; both machines now bore the marks of battle, each scored with melted furrows and shallow slashes, as mobility warred with sheer power.

Then, abruptly, Nova's thrusters had flared brightly in reverse, shoving the bulky machine out of blade range of the Impulse, and its equally massive shield had risen into position, blocking off any frontal attack Impulse might've managed.

Shinn's first instinct had been to take advantage of Nova's sudden immobility, and circle around behind the machine… but something had held him back. _Maybe the Major taught me better instincts or something,_ he thought now, gazing at Nova through wary eyes, _but something doesn't smell right about this. That guy doesn't seem to know much about subtlety, but he's not stupid, either; if he's done something so obviously insane, there must be a reason for it…_

So, reigning in his impulse -he snorted wryly at his own thought- to instantly attack, Shinn forced himself to wait. Even with the sudden reinforcements from orbit, he could afford to take his time, if the alternative was a possibly unacceptable risk.

In the meantime, he _did_ feel secure enough to risk diverting some of his attention to other areas… and the pilot's mouth tightened when he caught sight of the pillars of light crashing down into the sea near the trio of allied ships. He'd never seen kinetic weapons in use personally, but he knew them from academy courses, and thus knew the inherent threat they posed to those he had sworn to defend.

_And_Archangel_ is already in the water,_ Shinn thought grimly._Combine that with _Odin_'s engine damage, and we may have a problem here…_

His thoughts were interrupted by sudden laughter, and his gaze snapped back to Nova as he realized where it was coming from. "What are you laughing about, you maniac?" the ZAFT pilot demanded; then he noticed Nova's heretofore unused shoulder-mounted bazooka was swinging down into place. "Just what do you think you're doing…?"

"Finishing this fight, space monster," Oscar Goldberg replied, laughing gleefully. "Thank you, Lord Djibril! Now it's time to end this once and for all!" Inside Nova's cockpit, he watched as a sequence of numbers and letters scrolled up on his screen, and his fingers flew over his system keyboard, quickly copying in the sequence. "Just a little longer for the launch codes to be cleared, and then this will all be over!"

Shinn went white. _Launch codes…? No! That means-!_

Abandoning all pretense of caution, Shinn flung aside his shield, pulled out his second beam saber, and charged toward Nova. "You bastard!" he snarled. "If you think I'm going to let you do that, you've got another thought coming!"

Impulse's blades plunged in toward Nova's head; if he took just take out the machine's primary optics, he could at least delay the firing sequence by forcing it to switch to secondary targeting systems, giving him enough to finish the job. _Just a little time,_ Shinn thought, focused completely on the growing image on his displays… and trying not to think about his machine's power situation, despite the creeping red on his displays. _Just a little time, and I can-_

A split second before Impulse's blades could connect, Goldberg hit Nova's thrusters, rushing to meet the ZAFT machine… and at the same time, he shoved outward with his shield, slamming it directly into the oncoming energy blades.

The sheer mass of the shield, combined with the closing rate between Impulse and Nova, meant the impact was the equivalent of running headlong into a brick wall. Impulse's sabers rebounded harmlessly, the left-hand blade knocked completely from its grip; and even as the crimson blade spun off into the darkness, Impulse's fuselage collided with the tough metal with a resounding crash.

Inside Impulse's cockpit, Shinn cried out, thrown about by the impact; the outcry became a grunt of pain a moment later, as the top of his helmet bashed into the cockpit overhead. Stars appeared in his vision, his ears began to ring, and a wave of pain and dizziness assaulted the pilot.

Dazed, his hands fell away from the controls, his foot eased off the thruster control pedal, and Impulse began to tumble from the skies, following after the many and varied machines disabled and destroyed earlier in the battle by the combined ZAFT/Section Nine force.

Watching Impulse fall, Scar Goldberg smiled widely. "You Coordinators ain't all you're cracked up to be, kid," he told the dizzy pilot. "Have you forgotten? You wouldn't even exist if it weren't for the brilliance of Naturals."

He began to laugh again then… laughter that was redoubled when a bolt of emerald light flashed down from above, spearing Impulse's right leg just below the knee. Melting easily through the relatively light standard armor used by phase-shift-equipped machines, the beam shattered the inner frame with ease, melting it way through hydraulic lines, physical connections, and circuitry like the hammer of Thor.

As had many other pieces of mobile suit that violent night, Impulse's lower leg broke free in a shower of sparks, and vanished on a journey down to the sea.

The Windam that had fired the shot -one of the reinforcements from _Thor,_ appropriately enough- smoothly drifted down to Nova's level, and the two pilots exchanged a thumbs-up as they watched Impulse fall away, its blue and white scheme flowing away to plain gray.

The numbers on Goldberg's screen continued to race toward completion…

* * *

_Dominion,_ Bridge

* * *

"Reinforcements confirmed, Captain," Lieutenant Commander Serafina Metternich announced, relief plain in her voice. "We've got _Ophanim_ and _Thor_ descending to our position now, with fire support from _Missouri."_

Captain Alistair McKay attempted -with little success- to hide a sigh of relief. "Excellent news, Serafina. In fact, I'd call that the best news I've heard since we first got sent on this errant errand." He glanced over at the flag officer's chair. "Admiral, may I suggest we pull back now?"

"You may indeed, Alistair," Rear Admiral Sierra Novak assured him. "Considering the damage we took in that last encounter, I'm quite frankly surprised we're even still in the air."

"So am I." The captain nodded at his helmsman, Lieutenant Michael Christensen. "All right, Mike. Pull us back, best available speed."

"Roger that, Captain. Pulling back."

As_Dominion_'s battered engines came online, swinging the ship around with painful slowness, Novak settled back in her chair with more than a trace of relief herself. In theory, the day's mission should've been simple; with the support of orbital weapons and dozens of mobile suits, taking out _Odin,_ _Minerva,_ and the few mobile suits they could bring to bear should've been a relatively easy task, especially if the Seirans had held up their end of things.

Unfortunately, not only had the Seirans' attempt at taking out Section Nine's command cadre obviously failed miserably, but the assassination squad had clearly been unable to eliminate Ken DiFalco before he could get airborne… and on top of all that, Intelligence had made a colossal failure in their estimation of the enemy forces.

The sniper-optimized unit that had wrought havoc among the drop forces had been quite an unpleasant enough surprise all by itself; combined with the startling reappearance of the original _Archangel_ and her attendant mobile suits, the mission had suddenly taken on a nightmarish quality.

The final straw, as far as _Dominion_ herself was concerned, was the unexpected modifications to the _Archangel._ Being struck with weapons no one had ever succeeded in constructing before had been both shocking and devastating… and, Novak suspected, at least partially preventable, had Intelligence been on their toes.

_Well,_ she thought darkly, _I'll just have to have some words with them, won't I? Considering that even an idiot can tell it was failures in espionage that led to this mess -and that Admiral Desai is already in a… dubious position, after Third Jachin, heads may well roll over this…_

Novak shook herself out of her reverie. "Lieutenant Atkinson," she called, remembering her responsibilities, "please put me through to Admiral-"

"Incoming transmission from Commander Hamilton," Atkinson interrupted uncharacteristically, eyes widening slightly, "Priority One."

The admiral blinked. "Priority One?" For all that Hamilton was, at times, fully as arrogant as his enemy DiFalco, he didn't make emergency transmissions for no reason. "Put him through, then."

"_Attention,_Dominion!_ This is Hamilton; do you read me?"_

"Loud and clear, Commander," McKay assured him. "What's the emergency?"

"_You need to pull _Dominion_ back as fast as possible!"_ the pilot barked, his voice tinged with an urgency neither Novak nor McKay had heard from him before. _"It doesn't matter if you have to overheat the engines, just get out of the battle area immediately!"_

Novak frowned, a formless dread beginning to form in her gut. "We're already pulling back, Commander… but may I ask what the haste is about? One doesn't lightly push the engines of a damaged_Archangel_-class-"

_"Yeah, well, one doesn't normally worry about being incinerated, either!"_ Hamilton shot back. _"Admiral, that maniac Djibril sent Scar the launch codes for his bazooka!"_

McKay jerked upright, and Novak inhaled sharply. "He's authorized a nuclear strike?!" she said incredulously. "Is he out of his mind?! _Ophanim_ and _Thor_ are currently approaching the targets; if Goldberg launches a strike now-"

"_I know."_ Hamilton swore; considering how calm and collected he usually was, it was a further sign of how agitated the situation had made him. _"Admiral, I've got Sigma with me -he got blitzed by Preybird- and we're coming back in now. I strongly recommend you contact Admiral Kimmer at once; it's too late to try and cancel the nuclear strike, so about all we can hope for is to get everyone out of range before it goes off."_

"Concur," Novak said without hesitation. "Lieutenant Ricardo, make sure the flight deck is ready for them the moment they arrive. Lieutenant Christensen, redline the engines; I don't care if they burn out, so long as they don't do so until we're clear of the blast area. And Ron, I need that link to _Ophanim_ right _now!"_

"Understood, Ma'am!" Atkinson acknowledged, fingers already beginning to fly over his console. "I'm on it!"

_A nuclear strike,_ Novak thought incredulously. _Hasn't that idiot learned _anything_ from Azrael's mistakes?! He started throwing nukes all over the place, and it nearly cost him his career, and even his life! Djibril, you're out of your mind!_

With that knowledge in mind, she began revising her estimates of the fallout at home. Djibril might well survive it, but his career was going to be in rough shape indeed, if _Ophanim_ and _Thor_ were caught in the coming conflagration.

"Link established, Admiral!" Atkinson announced; unsurprisingly, his voice was just a touch higher in pitch than usual.

"Thank you, Ron." Novak glanced down at her right armrest screen, and began speaking the moment Cyril Kimmer's face appeared on it. "Admiral Kimmer, I'm glad to see you here. I only with the circumstances were better."

"_Agreed,"_ Kimmer said with a nod. _"We've taken note of your damage; are you still able to get out of here unassisted, Sierra?"_

"Admiral, we'll _walk_ out of here if we have to," she said frankly. "The situation has changed, you see. Are you aware that Lord Djibril has authorized a nuclear strike?"

Kimmer stiffened. _"A nuclear strike? Wait… don't tell me he's sent Goldberg the launch codes…!"_

"That's exactly what he's done, Sir," Novak confirmed grimly. "Commander Hamilton passed me the word not two minutes ago. I don't know how far along the launch sequence is -from what I understand, Nova's sequence takes some time, if only to discourage actions like Azrael's- but it can't be too much longer now."

The other admiral cursed. _"I knew Djibril was getting increasingly out of control, and he never did have Azrael's brains -the way Third Jachin was handled is proof enough of that- but I never thought even _he_ would be this stupid."_ He closed his eyes for a moment. _"No chance of canceling the launch sequence now?"_

She shook her head. "I doubt it. I'm not very familiar with Nova's actual procedures, but Hamilton is, and he was quite clearly scared out of his wits. I'm afraid our only option is to get out of here, Sir, before _we're_ caught in the blast."

"…_I suppose you're right."_ Kimmer sighed. _"All right, then. Captain Lewis,"_ he called, glancing toward his own flag captain, _"get us turned around; we'll make our entrance into Orb after the blast has cleared. Lyle, pass the word to _Thor,_ as well. We can't afford to lose an _Odin,_ either."_ He turned back to Novak. _"Sierra, I hate to say it, but we're going to have to keep some of our mobile suits airborne; I don't trust ZAFT and Section Nine not to launch an attack when they realize we're retreating. For one thing, a new mobile armor of unknown type appeared just a few minutes ago, launching an attack on my ships. We can't take any chances here."_

"Understood, Sir."

Novak didn't like the idea -it sounded too much like they were leaving those pilots to die- but she understood Kimmer's logic. Considering the _Archangel_'s well-earned nickname of "Indestructible", there was entirely too much chance that _something_ would survive the coming blast… and in _Dominion_'s shape, it wouldn't take much to finish off the wounded ship.

_May there be mercy on us all, for what is about to occur…_

* * *

Orb Coastal Waters

* * *

Armor splashed into the air in a cloud of metal vapor, and a blade of crimson light slashed out of the Windam's chest in a brilliant flare of energy.

Thomas Delaney, late of the so-called "Gray Demons", spun away from his latest victim, and flung himself across the sky toward the next, riding his Murasame's thrusters with the almost casual expertise of a veteran of many a battle.

_This isn't possible,_ the pilot of the Windam he targeted thought. _A single Murasame, and one that clearly isn't even fully combat-ready… It'd take a Gray Demon to pull this off!_

Indeed, the machine Tom flew _was_ having issues with its thruster control -there was a flutter in the tuning, which was why Andrew Waltfeld hadn't taken it up for this engagement- but Tom was also a highly experienced pilot, having started his career in an environment where such a flutter would've thrown off his piloting even more, due to the physics of null-g and extra-atmospheric combat. Something as simple as this would not stop one of the thirteen Endymion Demons.

The Windam he attacked was no slouch either, somewhat to his irritation; for all that the Earth Alliance had expected much lesser opposition, they _had_ anticipated the possibility of engaging at least Preybird, and possibly even Freedom, so only the best pilots had been sent along with _Dominion, Ophanim,_ and _Thor._ Thus it was that the Earth Forces pilot successfully snapped up a saber of his own before Tom could actually reach him.

Despite Tom's lightning-quick thrust at the Windam's cockpit, the EAF pilot brought his own blade down to counter, forcing the Murasame's crimson blade down between his legs in a shower of sparks. "Don't think too highly of yourself, Coordinator!" the pilot snapped, and swung his own blade back up in preparation for a cleaving blow. "We Naturals aren't slouch-"

A beam-edged blade crashed into the Windam's thrusters from behind, piercing through one of the exhaust nozzles with a screech of tortured metal; before the pilot had time to realize just what was happening, the fiery edge entered his cockpit from behind, cutting through metal and circuits like a superheated knife through butter vapor, and incinerated his torso.

"Don't think too highly of _yourself,_ Natural," a cold voice informed the deceased pilot. _"Some_ Naturals aren't slouches… but you're not one of them."

Tom saw the bright blade burst through the Windam's hatch, and nodded respectfully. "Nice work, Millenia," he said approvingly. "Just what I'd expect from the Black Widow."

Millenia Crescent chuckled, withdrawing her blade from the shattered remains of the Windam. "You're not so bad yourself, Tom. I see two or three years in support jobs hasn't hurt your skills any… but then, I suppose anyone who could survive Endymion would be unlikely to let his talents atrophy."

"Two hours a day, minimum, in a simulator," he informed her. "More than that, when I could manage, even back when I was commanding_Asmodeus."_ Without skipping a beat, he whipped the Murasame around, interposing its shield just in time to send an emerald dart ricocheting off into the night… at which point the snapped his right arm forward, flinging his saber in a flat arc toward the Windam that had fired on him.

The Windam's pilot's eyes widened, and he instinctively lifted his right arm to block the flying blade. The blade of captive energy, however, was completely unimpressed by the rifle barrel that suddenly impeded its passage (or would've been, if weapons had feelings about anything at all); rather than being significantly slowed by the rifle, the energy blade simply sheared clear through, melting through the metal with only slightly more difficulty than it had piercing the cockpit hatch beyond it. The rifle's barrel snapped off, sailing off into the dark… and at that same moment, the saber's tip burned a neat hole in the Windam's hatch, turned the pilot into vapor, and speared out the machine's thrusters.  
Glowing with the light of the beam saber still embedded in it, the Windam tumbled out of sight.

"Nice work, Tom," Millenia said approvingly, returning the ex-Demon's earlier compliment. "And I think that's just about it for the Windams… finally."

Tom started to nod… then paused, as something else caught his eye. "Not quite," he said tightly, looking over at Nova for the first time in several minutes. "Millenia… I think your boy's in trouble over there."

Millenia spun Strike Noir around, and cursed vilely as she, too, saw what Tom had spotted. Impulse was falling from the sky… and as Nova continued its countdown to launch, a trio of Windams from _Ophanim_ were diving toward the helpless ZAFT machine, sabers drawn.

Like falcons stooping upon a lesser bird, they were clearly preparing to end the engagement, and Shinn Asuka's life with it.

* * *

Upside down and plunging toward the ocean below, Shinn Asuka was in a daze, disoriented by the impacts he'd suffered, combined with the emotional shock of hearing Goldberg's intentions. No longer even attempting to grip Impulse's controls, he simply let himself fall, knowing he'd failed utterly.

_We stopped the ships from attacking,_ he thought distantly. _Even with all that they threw at us, we were winning… but I was the only one in range to stop Nova. When he launches that nuke, it'll be all over… and I'll have let someone die again…_

Unbidden, memories of the Battle of Orb returned to his mind, snapshots of destruction and mayhem. M1s fired, slashed, fell, and exploded; Strike Daggers came charging across the shoreline, firing, defending, dying… and several machines of a more advanced type, flying above it all as they dueled.

Shinn and his family had been running from all that, hurrying to reach the spaceport and escape into space, when his little sister had dropped her cell phone. Ignoring the protests from his parents, he'd foolishly chased after it… and that had been the only thing that saved his life, when a powerful blast of energy crashed into the hillside.

_I should've died that day myself,_ Shinn thought, eyes falling closed. _Only a fluke kept me alive… kept me from joining my family again. And now… now the fluke finishes me, before I can protect my _new_ family. Mayu… everyone… I'm sorry…_

Shinn Asuka slumped against his restraints, and waited for the end.

"Launch sequence complete!" an exultant voice shouted over the radio. "Nova, commencing fire mission! Windams, you guys finish off that pipsqueak in case he gets any ideas!"

_Fire mission… The nuke! He's about to destroy them!_

Behind Shinn Asuka's eyes, a crimson seed ruptured and exploded.

The Windam pilots, about to fall upon and finish the maimed Impulse, exchanged glances of mutual surprise as Impulse's left arm suddenly shot up, flying up with all the power available to it… and sending Impulse's shield hurtling into the sky, flashing past the Windams before they could even figure out why the ZAFT machine had done it, let alone try to stop it.

In Nova's cockpit, Scar Goldberg was laughing with almost childish glee. "This ends it all, Coordinators! You and the Coordinator lovers in Section Nine are about to feel the real wrath of heaven, for the preservation of our blue and pure world!" With another laugh, he squeezed the trigger linked to his bazooka… and at that precise moment, Impulse's shield slammed into the bazooka's barrel.

With a grunt of surprise from Goldberg, the bazooka's aim point shifted very suddenly to vertical, even as the nuclear shell shot down its barrel… and instead of flying off toward the trio of ships he'd meant to target, the nuclear warhead flung itself almost straight up, on a collision course with orbit.

And as the warhead itself was propelled by a rocket motor, for greater acceleration, it was almost certain to achieve escape velocity.

Goldberg dropped his gaze toward Impulse in absolute astonishment. "How did you-?! You weren't even conscious a second ago!"

Shinn stared back up at Nova with wide, calm eyes. "Don't underestimate a ZAFT red, Natural," he said coldly. "I'd never lose to someone like _you."_ His hands now firmly gripping his controls again, he jerked back on his control sticks, and shoved his thruster pedal to the cockpit floor.

"Take him down!" Goldberg snapped at the Windams. "He's out of combat power; finish him before he does anything else insane!"

"Roger that!" The Windam trio increased their rate of descent, thrusters flaring as they prepared to ram their sabers into the Impulse. Even now, the ZAFT machine was flipping over with surprising speed, but if they could finish him before he could attempt to recharge or return to base-

A hail of emerald darts ripping into the back of one of the Windams, spearing it a dozen times over; before the pilot even realized anything was there, the laser fusillade shredded his main thrusters, detonating them in a spray of shrapnel. Its wings melted under the barrage, then snapped off… and another burst of energy fire ripped into its now-unprotected back, chewing it into a hulk barely even recognizable as a mobile suit.

Goldberg's head whipped around in fresh surprise. "What in the world was that?!"

His eyes widened still further when he saw the shape that was diving out of the sky at him, for it was no mobile suit. Painted in Section Nine slate-gray, it appeared instead to be a fighter of some kind, riding air-breathing turbines instead of proper thrusters; and for weapons, it looked to have two micro-missile launchers on its wings, and what was clearly an energy-based gunpod in the nose.

"A mobile armor?!" Goldberg exploded, incredulous. "They're deploying a _mobile armor_ against us?! That's insane!"

Now as much offended as astonished, he yanked out his plasma rifle again, intent on utterly obliterating the offending machine. _Fighters are fast,_ he thought savagely, _but one thing they _aren't_ is durable. One shot, and this is all over!_ With a snarl of anger, Goldberg pulled the trigger, sending a bolt of red-hot plasma scorching across the night sky, on a collision course with the interfering machine…

With an almost casual motion, the "mobile armor" barrel-rolled to the left… and converted mid-roll into a humanoid form, wings shifting onto its back, nose folding over, and part of the rear fuselage dropping down to form legs, while newly-revealed arms clutched the gunpod in a two-handed grip.

"Mobile armor?" Lieutenant Commander Morgan Chevalier grinned rakishly. "Don't insult me, Goldberg. This is a Fianna, not some piece of cannon fodder!"

With another snarl, Goldberg snapped off another plasma bolt; but the Fianna was no longer there. Swapping end for end, Morgan sent his machine into a dive at the remaining pair of Windams, both of whom had quickly lost interest in the Impulse.

"A new model," one pilot muttered to the other, quickly swapping his saber for his machine's rifle. "Those bastards at Section Nine have come up with something new to throw at us!"

"Doesn't matter," his partner snapped back. "There's still just one of them; we can take him!"

Rocketing back up into the sky to meet the descending foe, the Windams opened fire at the same time, spitting emerald darts at the Fianna as fast the rifles' capacitors could cycle… only to see the Fianna twitch to one side, then the other, and back again, in a complicated weave that sent the Windams' targeting computers into fits.

"Let me give you a piece of advice," Morgan told them, snapping his gunpod into firing position. "Two pieces, actually: don't take the Moonlight Mad Dog lightly… and next time, reset your targeting computers to compensate for more maneuverable opponents!"

The senior of the two Windam pilots swore. "You son of a-!" He opened fire again even as he spoke… and then his voice died mid-word, swallowed by the hailfire of energy that slammed into his machine's torso. The rapid-fire barrage struck with such energy that it literally warped, melting the Windam's forward fuselage into a malleable, twisted surface that no longer much resembled part of a mobile suit.

It fell away, its pilot now effectively one with his machine, and the remaining Earth Forces pilot swore vilely. "You bastard," he snarled, enraged. "You'll pay for that!" Feeding all discretionary power into thrusters and weaponry, he shot up into the air. Discarding his shield, he snatched out a beam saber, and ascended toward the falling Fianna with a weapon in either hand; if the Section Nine machine survived to meet him, then the Windam's energy blade would be ready to finish the job.

_This is where is gets tricky,_ Morgan thought, spinning to one side to let an emerald dart blaze past. _The biggest weakness of the Fianna is that it doesn't have a shield; if I let him hit me, it's all over…_

Not for nothing, though, had he survived the Second Battle of Jachin Due…and not for nothing had he come into this battle alone. With a quick squeeze of a trigger, Morgan activated his right missile pod -the left having been exhausted in his flyby against _Ophanim_ and _Thor_ -and sent out a full salvo of eighteen missiles… all of them targeted directly at the one Windam.

Goldberg stared in utter disbelief as his compatriots were wiped out by the newcomer. _One transformable mobile suit? Just _one?!_ Bastard! I'm not letting you get away with this!_

Seeing his chance in the explosive destruction of the final Windam, he snapped up his plasma rifle, intent on frying the Fianna while it was still distracted. "Die, you Coordinator-loving bastard!" His finger viciously squeezed the trigger, launching a bolt of raw plasma… just as a foot came crashing into the rifle's barrel from below.

A moment later, the same foot lashed out again, slamming into Nova's chest, and the Earth Alliance machine fell back from the impact, its pilot once again startled… for the one who had hit him was one who had been basically helpless a moment before.

To Goldberg's disbelief, ZGMF-X56S Impulse hovered in front of him, rifle in one hand and inactive saber in the other; and despite missing the lower part of one leg and lacking the power for VPS -or weapons- it looked as though its pilot believed he could take on the entire world.

Which, in fact, wasn't too far from the truth.

Eyes wide and clear, Shinn ignored Goldberg's attempts to regain control entirely for the time being, and keyed his radio. _"Minerva,"_ he called calmly, "this is Shinn. I need you to activate the deuterion recharge system right away."

He didn't need to see all of _Minerva_'s bridge to picture what was going on there. After all, moments before he'd been on his way to a meeting with Davy Jones, having been thoroughly knocked out of the fight by Nova's raw power; now, he'd suddenly recovered his bearings, stopped a nuclear attack cold, and was clearly prepared to finish the rest of the engagement all by himself if he had to.

_Yeah, I'll finish it,_ Shinn thought. _Those Earth Forces bastards have done too much today as it is; I'm not going to let them kill anyone else… and I'm not going to let them stop us from escaping to Carpentaria. I won't let them have their way any more!_

Over the radio, he could hear a quick, hurried exchange on _Minerva_'s bridge. _"Captain,"_ Arthur Trine said urgently, _"I'm not at all sure that's a good idea. Look at the damage Impulse has already taken! He should be withdrawing, not asking to continue the engagement indefinitely!"_

"_You saw what he just did out there, Arthur,"_ Talia replied calmly. _"If he thinks he can finish off that machine, I'm prepared to give him the chance."_ She shifted her attention to another member of her crew. _"Meyrin, do as he asks, and hurry."_

"_Right away, Ma'am! Shinn, the power is on its way!"_ Meyrin Hawke paused. _"Should we be sending out replacement equipment, as well?"_

"Don't bother," Shinn replied calmly. "I'm fine with what I have." _A damaged leg isn't going to be much of a problem… and I'm not going to need the shield to finish _him_ off._

"…_All right, then. Activating power transmission now."_

From_Minerva_'s upper deck, a narrow beam of green light flared to life, shining brilliantly against the night sky as it speared across the heavens. An instant after first appearing, the beam struck the "gem" on Impulse's forehead… and the power readings that had been hovering at "zero" on Shinn's display sudden climbed rapidly back toward full.

Down below, Goldberg spotted the strange phenomenon, and gave up on subtle attempts to reorient himself. Bracing himself for the shock to come, he engaged his powerful thrusters at full power, arresting his fall with bone-bruising force. "You space monster," he hissed under his breath. "You think you're getting away?!"

Hurling aside his plasma rifle, Goldberg yanked out one of his powerful sabers, energized the blade in a flare of crimson light, and launched himself at Impulse. _Enough playing around,_ he thought savagely. _This time, I'll end it with one blow!_

Nova flew up at Impulse, moving a velocity that belied its bulk, and its blade of frozen fire reached out for Impulse's back… just as its color returned, and Shinn hit his flight controls once more.

Impulse flipped over, somersaulting backwards just as Nova's blade skewered the position it had occupied a moment before, and Goldberg gaped in disbelief. _No way,_ his mind insisted. _He couldn't have even seen me coming-_

The Earth Forces pilot's thoughts were interrupted with brutal suddenness by a heavy shock to Nova's frame, as Shinn's own blade flared to life at last, and crashed into the mount for Nova's atomic bazooka. With a screech of rent and torn metal, the fiery sword ripped through the bazooka's attachment point, sending a spray of shards and vaporized metal in all directions, before cleaving all the way through.

Nova's most powerful weapon tore free, flying off into the darkness, and Goldberg's lips curled in rage. "You little _punk!"_ Angered now beyond words, he threw Nova into a violent one-eighty turn, slashing up with his saber even as he did so… and Impulse's own thrusters flared, shoving it adroitly to one side, before thrusting its blade into Nova's right thruster pod.

With a grunt of exertion, Shinn plunged the blade of captive flame into the massive vernier, burning a hole clear through armor, nozzle casing, exhaust chamber alike, then wrenched it sideways, ripping free in an explosion of shrapnel.

The damage from the stab-and-slash alone would've been enough to knock the thruster unit out of commission… but that very damage set off a chain reaction, igniting the propellant feeding the unit. Never having been meant for such sudden, catastrophic ignition, the propellant violently erupted, and a ball of fire tore out through the thruster's casing.

Engulfed in fire, the entire thruster pod blew apart, vomiting flame and debris all over the sky.

Letting out an incoherent scream of mixed rage and shock, Goldberg struggled with his machine, fighting with every ounce of strength in his body to regain some measure of stability through his remaining thruster pod… but Shinn Asuka could not have cared less.

Calmly watching Nova fall away, the ZAFT pilot was unsure of whether Nova would survive… and at that moment, he didn't particularly care._He's out of the fight,_ he thought, distantly surprised by his own calm. _If he comes back again, I'll finish him then; for now, I'd better help-_

A flare of light far, far brighter than anything yet unleashed that night erupted in the heavens above, instantly transforming the deep dark of night into the brightest day imaginable, destroying Shinn's train of thought and nearly doing the same thing to his eyes before his displays could compensate for the unexpected light show.

Thousands of kilometers above, Nova's warhead had found a target after all.

* * *

_Dominion,_ Bridge

* * *

Rear Admiral Sierra Novak's face went bone white as the brilliant flare of a nuclear detonation filled the skies above. Even many thousands of kilometers distant, it was incredibly bright; Nova's warhead, while relatively small, had still been intended to take out large chunks of entire fleets.

And now, apparently, it had done just that.

"Report!" Captain McKay barked. "Serafina, what just happened out there?!"

The clatter of keys as Serafina Metternich tapped at her console was almost deafening, her fingers flying so fast they practically blurred. "Nuclear detonation in low Earth orbit!" she called, never taking her eyes off her screen. "It looks like Nova's warhead reached escape velocity, and impacted on something… Captain, we've lost _Missouri_'s signal!"

Novak swore viciously under her breath. She didn't know if it had been a freak hit, if the warhead's IFF system had failed, or if the piece of junk had simply malfunctioned and blown itself up… and it didn't really matter. What did matter was that with _Missouri_ gone, the force engaging the escaping enemy ships no longer had orbital fire support.

Which meant _Ophanim_ and _Thor_ were facing a third again their number, without any support at all.

_On the one hand, the misfire means we may yet have a chance to win this,_ she thought, mind racing. _There's no longer the imminent threat of incineration, after all… but the same holds true for them, as well, and they've got more X-number mobile suits still in the battle than we do…_

"Additional data coming in, Admiral!" Metternich called, breaking into Novak's reverie. "It looks like _Vlad Dracul_ and_ Otto Skorzeny_ were also caught in the blast!"

_Three ships,_ Novak thought bitterly. _Three ships, because that idiot Djibril… I suppose it's almost appropriate _Dracul_ went -what lunatic named a ship _that_ anyway?- but it's still a bad business, altogether…_

"Understood, Serafina," she said aloud. "Alistair, I think it's time we-"

"_Attention, all Earth Alliance Forces in this region,"_ an English-accented voice barked from the speakers, interrupting the admiral.

Novak shot a look at Atkinson, but he shrugged helplessly; he didn't know how, but someone had just cut into _Dominion_'s com system without any action on his part… and he wasn't quite sure what to do about, or even if he _should_ do anything about it.

A moment later, the voice went on, dispelling any notions of cutting off the transmission with the words it spoke. _"This is Major Willet, Third CTAT…"_

* * *

Orb Coastal Waters

* * *

Shielding his eyes against the brilliance of the orbital detonation, Kira wondered distantly just what in the world had happened. _Somebody set off a nuke in orbit?_ he thought, confused. _Who would be crazy enough to _do_ that, especially in the middle of a situation like this?_

"I don't think that was a deliberate detonation, Kira," Athrun called, as though reading his friend's mind. "Remember what Shinn did a few minutes ago? I think it just came back to hurt them."

The two of them finally had a moment to catch their breath; had they been on the ground, they would've been surrounded by the wrecked hulks of their own enemies. Instead, some had plunged into the black abyss below, while others had managed to limp back to their motherships… but either way, they were effectively out of danger for the moment.

"Yeah," Kira agreed after a moment. "You're probably right about that. I wonder if it was bad luck, or bad maintenance…? Well, either way, it looks like somebody screwed up out there." He glanced around, taking a moment to check the battle area. For the moment, it seemed as though the fighting had stopped; _Odin_ was listing slightly over the ocean, _Archangel_ had been forced to make an emergency landing in the water, and _Minerva_ appeared to have suffered a fair number of hull breaches, but overall the ships still seemed seaworthy.

The mobile suits were mostly in decent shape, as well, from what he could tell. Even Freedom and Justice bore a few marks from the extended engagement, and both Strike Noir and Impulse had lost parts of their legs, while Preybird had lost an entire arm before retreating, yet they remained an effective force; and from what Kira could see, neither Strike nor Buster had suffered anything more than a few grazes.

The two ZAKUs on _Minerva_'s deck looked to have had a few close shaves, as both were burnt and blackened in places, but they were still alive. Tom's Murasame also seemed in good shape… and, of course, the only issue with the newly-arrived Fianna was that it was out of missiles.

_All in all,_ Kira thought with relief, _we're all okay. Now, if those guys will just realize they've lost, and let us go- wait a second!_

As his gaze tracked back across Impulse's area, movement caught Kira's eyes, and he tensed, for Nova had finally managed to reorient itself, and was now rising back up toward an oblivious Impulse. "Shinn, look out-!"

"_Attention, all Earth Alliance Forces in this region,"_ a new voice interrupted, the English-accent female voice speaking with such a bark of authority that even Scar Goldberg paused in his advance._"This is Major Willet, Third CTAT. New orders for all forces, Priority One."_

"New orders?!" Nova's pilot burst out. "_What_ new orders?!"

"_All forces are to break off their pursuit of ZAFT and Section Nine assets,"_ Willet continued, ignoring Goldberg's outburst._"Repeat, all forces are to break off the pursuit. All mobile suits return to base; all ships, make your course for Morgenröte Harbor."_

"Preposterous!" Goldberg snarled. "That directly violates Lord Djibril's instructions! We're not to allow them to-"

"_Lord Djibril is no longer in command of this operation,"_ Willet interrupted, acknowledging the pilot's existence at last. _"These orders are straight from Director Azrael, and I expect them to be obeyed. Or,"_ she went on, voice suddenly cold as space itself,_"do you really want to test my unit's… reputation, Lieutenant Goldberg?"_

Even as the Earth Forces major spoke, Kira had been scanning the sky, trying to find the source of the new signal… and now, as she finished her warning to Goldberg, he caught sight of something new. In the darkness of night, he couldn't quite make it out, but standing on _Ophanim_'s bow deck was the silhouette of a mobile suit… one that appeared to have a full ten wings…

"…Understood, Major," Goldberg said now, with manifest reluctance. "Nova, returning to _Dominion."_

"_Good for you, Lieutenant,"_ Willet said, with icy approval. _"Because quite frankly, you're lucky you were only carrying out orders. Otherwise, I'd have shot you anyway, for that piece of insanity."_

Kira had no idea who this "Major Willet" was… but judging from the respect even the trigger-happy Goldberg accorded her, she was someone of a certain level of influence within the Earth Alliance's military hierarchy.

_Which doesn't explain why I've never heard of her,_ he thought, _but I guess it doesn't really matter right now. What matters is that they're breaking off now, which means we're in the clear… for now, at least._

Indeed, both _Ophanim_ and _Thor_ were now turning away, following the battered _Dominion_ toward Orb territory, while what few mobile suits remained to them also disengaged, flying back to their respective motherships. For now, at least, Section Nine and ZAFT had won through… though as Kira knew, this was only the beginning.

One way or another, _Archangel_ would not be permitted to simply bow out of the war. From here on, it was back into that maelstrom of conflict that Kira had half-thought himself free of, in the aftermath of Second Jachin…

His mordant thoughts were interrupted by another transmission. _"To the pilots and crew of Section Nine and ZAFT,"_ Willet called,_"I commend you on a valiant defense… and, as one warrior to others, apologize for the attempted nuclear strike. You've fought well this day, and for that you have my respect… but I assure you, this is not over. War has begun, and thus, we _will_ meet again, on the bloody field of battle. Until then, savor your victory… and know that the greatest forces at our disposal will be hunting you."_

With that chilling, cryptic message, Willet's transmission cut out altogether. The battlefield now went silent, no longer filled with the sounds of crackling energy, gunfire, and explosions; each trio of ships merely continued on their way, pulling back from the mutually-destructive encounter.

A few moments after the voice from the dark machine faded, another, more welcome transmission came up on Kira's speakers. _"All mobile suits,"_ Natarle Badgiruel called, _"this is the_Archangel._ The combined force has now crossed Orb's border; as of now, we're in international waters, effectively neutral territory. All signs are that we're no longer in immediate danger, so all pilots are to land at once."_ She paused; judging from the soft murmuring Kira could hear, she was consulting with Murrue about something. _"Kira, Athrun, you two should be landing on the_Minerva;_ there's going to be a meeting aboard her as soon as the appropriate personnel can transfer over."_

"Roger that," Kira acknowledged. "I'll be there."

"Understood," Athrun echoed. "Justice, heading for _Minerva."_ Switching frequencies, he glanced over at the Freedom. "Well, Kira, I guess this is it. My cover identity is about to be blown wide open… permanently."

Somewhat to Kira's surprise, he didn't sound particularly bothered by it; but then, considering the circumstances they now found themselves in, having _Minerva_'s crew learn that "Alex Dino" was in fact Athrun _Zala_ was probably the least of his worries.

"Yeah," Kira agreed presently. "…I don't think you'll have _too_ much trouble, though. Remember, Ken may be a touchy subject with some ZAFT people, but True ZAFT in general is pretty well regarded… and I think your last transmissions to your father are on public record."

Athrun didn't answer immediately. Kira's comments, through reassuring in one sense, also brought up things he he'd tried very hard not to think about since Second Jachin… things about his father, and the last time he'd ever spoken to the man now reviled by an entire planet.

"_I'd hoped to find some trace of my father within you, Chairman. I thought maybe I could still get through to you. I guess I was wrong… I'm sorry, Father, but now I'll do what I have to. I'll oppose you, as long as there's breath in my body."_

"_That won't be for long. You're not my son anymore. Drop GENESIS' Mirage Colloid. And activate its phase-shift armor."_

"_Father! No, you can't-"_

"_Don't call me father. I told you, you're not my son. You've been corrupted, just like Falcon… so now the both of you can just die!"_

Those were the last words Athrun had ever heard Patrick Zala say. The next thing he'd heard of his father at all had been when Lance Cooper rammed _Arkbird_ into Jachin Due, destroying both it and Zala… and leaving Athrun with his greatest regret: that he last words he'd received from his own father had been a death sentence.

"…Yeah," Athrun said at last. "You've got a point there, Kira…"

Together, Freedom and Justice turned, lit off their thrusters, and flew off toward _Minerva_'s waiting flight decks.

* * *

_Archangel,_ Hangar, February 26th, C.E. 74

* * *

It was a weary but pleased Murrue Ramius who stepped through the hatch into the massive hangar area. _I haven't been this tired since Second Jachin,_ she thought, turning toward the line of now-parked mobile suits. _But then, it _has_ been a long night…_

Engaging in a running gunfight and worrying over how her fiancé was doing at Section Nine HQ had been quite enough of a bad start to the evening; the way that gunfight had quickly transitioned into a violent clash over the ocean had been effectively the coup de grace. What had started as an ordinary evening had turned into a battle lasting several hours, now concluding in a meeting an hour after midnight.

_Stay awake long for this,_ she told herself, striding now toward the one-armed machine she sought. _Stay awake for this meeting, and you can get some sleep afterwards. _Lots_ of sleep…_

By the time Murrue reached Preybird, Ken DiFalco was already hauling himself out of the cockpit, and lowering himself carefully to the hangar's deck. Unsurprisingly, he looked quite tired himself -as Murrue knew, he'd been knocked unconscious for a time by his own abilities- and also moved somewhat stiffly, suggesting he'd taken a number of minor wounds during the attack on Section Nine's local HQ.

Heedless of the pilot's possible injuries, she hugged him as soon as his feet touched the deck. "I'm glad you're back," she said into his shoulder. "You gave us all a scare, when we lost communications with HQ."

Cracking a rare smile, Ken returned the embrace, ignoring the pain as it tugged at the cuts and grazes he'd taken during the earlier gunfight. "Sorry about that, Murrue. Unato was a bit more brazen than I'd expected; even I hadn't anticipated that full-bore assault on Headquarters. But I'm alive, and so is Kira." He paused. "My people got back here okay, right?"

She pulled back far enough to look him in the eyes with a smile of her own. "Yes, they're fine… mostly, anyway. I don't really want to think about the kind of language Siegel is hearing right now, with Batou stuck in the same Infirmary with him, but even that big idiot's going to make it." She nodded over at the now-empty vehicles strewn about one corner of the hangar. "We're finally getting some use out of the cargo areas meant for Möbius spare parts; Togusa's gotten the people from HQ set up in there, for the moment. They'll be fine until we reach someplace safer." Murrue blinked then, and glared up at Ken. "Nice change of subject, by way. How are _you_ doing? And don't just tell me 'I'm fine'!"

Ken shrugged, a little sheepish. "I've got some cuts and bruises, that's all; no direct hits… for once. Considering that every_other_ time I've been in a firefight, I've gotten punctured, this makes for a nice change."

_That_ statement didn't surprise Murrue in the slightest. Ken's hatred of firearms went back to before he joined ZAFT, when he and Dearka Elsman had been caught in the middle of a bank robbery. The two of them had killed the robbers in the process, but not before Ken was shot twice, one bullet leaving a scar on his neck. And of course, he'd gotten hit during the attack on Heliopolis, before he reached GAT-X107 Raptor.

_And he got hit when Blue Cosmos attacked in Banadiya,_ Murrue thought,_and who can forget the mess at Mendel? "Got so angry I had to vent my spleen," wasn't that what he said at the time?_

"You're accident prone, Ken," she accused fondly. "When you're not in a mobile suit, you get shot. When you _are_ in a mobile suit, you fly it to pieces!"

"Ah, but I always come out of it alive, don't?" he replied, raising an eyebrow. "One might say I have the luck of the Irish… except that my ancestry is French-Canadian, not Celtic."

Murrue could only laugh quietly at that. Ken's sense of humor didn't often manifest outside of dry, ironic commentary, but it _did_ happen from time to time… giving a glimpse into the person he must once have been, before the horrors of war took their toll on him, years before.

_But then, war changed all of us, didn't it,_ she thought, remembering another face, one belonging to someone who had once held her much as Ken did now. _Even those who survive always lose something, in the end… or someone…_

Her dark train of thought was interrupted by the soft sound of a throat clearing itself. "I hate to interrupt," a cultured voice said quietly, "but I should point out that the sooner we get this meeting over with, the sooner we can all get some sleep." Rau Le Creuset, once again, wearing his trademark mask, tapped the watch on his left wrist. "I don't know about you two, but I've never really considered 0100 hours to be a reasonable hour for this sort of thing."

Stepping back with a small sigh, Murrue nodded. "You've got a point, Rau. After everything that's happened tonight, I'm already feeling somewhat like the living dead."

"You may be feeling somewhat more awake by the time we're finished," he said grimly. "I'm afraid Lady Cagalli and I have discovered something that isn't going to please any of us. Taken together with everything else that's been happening tonight, it may even overshadow their surprise -and anger- and seeing _me_ still alive."

* * *

_Minerva,_ Hangar

* * *

Shinn Asuka pushed the final key in Impulse's shutdown sequence, then leaned back into his seat with a profound sigh of relief. _It's finally over,_ he thought wearily. _That whole battle… I've never been this tired in my life._

He'd be on edge ever since the nuclear attack on the PLANTs; he knew from that day on that it was only a matter of time before situation in Orb became untenable, and _Minerva_ would be forced out. He hadn't expect _this_ situation, however, and fighting until very late at night hadn't helped, either.

_Neither did almost dying. _Shinn frowned, remembering something else that had happened during the near-endless battle. _That feeling, just when I'd lost all hope… What happened to me back there? Everything suddenly seemed so clear, with the world moving so slowly…_

It had been a moment of utter clarity unlike anything Shinn had ever before experienced… one which, now that he thought about it, may well have been a deciding factor in the battle, in that the miss-aimed nuclear weapon had struck the ship providing fire support for the Earth Alliance assault force.

Mustering his energy again, Shinn unstrapped, popped Impulse's hatch, and lowered himself to _Minerva_'s deck… where, waiting for him, stood Vino Dupre and Yolant Kent, both grinning ear-to-ear. Vino's uniform was a touch scorched, and Yolant had the beginnings of a bruise on his face, but both looked just about as happy as Shinn had ever seen them.

"That was great, Shinn!" Vino burst out. "We all thought you were toast, and then to pull off what you did… That was the some of the best flying I ever saw!"

"You really saved us all," Yolant agreed, his tone slightly more sedate than his fellow mechanic's. "If you hadn't knocked that nuke off course… And even after that, you actually got it to hit one of the Earth Forces' ships in orbit!"

Shinn scratched the back of his head, suddenly uncomfortable. "I didn't do _that_ much," he said, glancing absently toward another corner of the hangar, where two more mobile suits and a tilt-rotor transport from _Archangel_ had set down. "And that ship didn't go down because of me at all; it was just dumb luck…"

"It was still very good piloting, Shinn," Millenia Crescent asserted, walking over from Strike Noir. "Don't sell yourself short; hitting the battleship may have been dumb luck, but you're still the only reason we weren't all turned to radioactive ash."

As it happened, she had her own suspicions about exactly what had happened; she remembered the Bloody Valentine, and the way a certain slate-gray GINN had suddenly begun tearing into the enemy with unusually lethal effect. Still, it didn't detract from Shinn's actions at all. It might've explained them, but that made them no less significant.

"Thank you, Commander," Shinn said now, still uncomfortable. "I just… did what I thought I needed to, that's all."

"And what you thought you needed to do proved to be exactly the right thing, Shinn," a quiet, calm voice interjected. "Very smooth piece of work; no wonder they gave you the red uniform."

Shinn turned… and snapped instinctively to attention at the sight of the gray trench coat, optical-plastic eyepatch, and crimson-hilted sword. "Major," he said respectfully, raising his hand in salute.

Ken waved a hand. "I've said it before, Shinn, I'm no longer in ZAFT. By rights, I should be saluting _you."_ He grimaced. "Besides, in the end, you accomplished more in that battle than I did… and came out of it with less damage. Impulse may have lost part of a leg, but my machine lost an entire arm, as well as most of its ranged armament. In this battle, I played a minor role." Glancing over at Freedom and Justice, parked next to the _Archangel_ transport, he added, "Still, it _was_ nice to fly with those two again. It's been too long since Freedom and Justice flew."

Watching the ace's expression, Millenia couldn't help but wonder what thoughts were going through his mind just then. She'd been sent into a coma in Freedom's very first engagement, and was in stasis before Justice arrived on the scene at all, so she had missed out on the battles the pair had fought alongside Preybird. Millenia had, of course, seen visual records of battles like Mendel and Second Jachin, but it wasn't quite the same as being there… and nothing in ZAFT's annals detailed much about True ZAFT's inner workings.

_I wonder what it must've been like, in the months those three pilots flew together,_ she thought. _What memories do Falcon look back on now? What really mattered to him, in those last months of the War?_

It was a question that she'd pondered more than once, since meeting Ken again on _Minerva…_ and one she suspected she wouldn't entirely like the answer to. Clearly, whatever he'd experienced had led him down a different path than hers had, since he was now "the Major", instead of Commander DiFalco.

He had chosen a path apart from ZAFT, and so led a course diverging from his old allegiance… possibly forever.

The sound of approaching footsteps brought Millenia back to the present, as Talia Gladys and Arthur Trine walked into the hangar… just as Justice's hatch slid open, and its helmeted pilot lowered himself down to the hangar deck.

Talia had been about to greet her opposite number -Murrue having followed Ken after the transport- but she cut herself off before more than a syllable had left her mouth. _The pilot of the Justice… Can it really be _him,_ after all this time? No one's heard anything from that man since Second Jachin, after all…_

Ignoring_Minerva_'s crew entirely for the moment, the pilot walked briskly toward Ken, pulling off his helmet along the way… an act which resulted in looks of surprise from Talia, Trine, and Millenia. "Isn't that Alex Dino?" Trine muttered to his captain. "The Morgenröte engineer in charge of our repairs? What's _he_ doing here?"

Talia merely shrugged, just as confused. _We knew he was operating under an alias… but was he really so important that they would've entrusted Justice to him? No ordinary pilot would be assigned that, even in Section Nine…_

Seemingly oblivious to the mutters -or to the strange looks even Rey Za Burrel and Lunamaria Hawke were giving him, having exited their own machines- "Alex Dino" walked up to Ken, paused precisely a meter and a half away, and snapped to attention, helmet tucked under his left arm and right hand raised in salute. "Commander Athrun Zala, reporting for duty, Major," he said crisply.

Ken smiled, returning the salute. "Good to have you back, Athrun. A flightsuit fits you much better than a Morgenröte uniform."

Millenia blinked, then took a closer look at the "engineer". _Well I'll be,_ she thought, more startled than she allowed her expression to show. _He _is_ Athrun Zala. So _that's_ where he's been all this time. Hiding in Orb, under an alias…_

Luna's jaw had dropped -as had Trine's- and even Talia was staring in shock; of them all, only Rey was relatively unaffected, and even his eyebrows had gone up. A number of unexpected things had happened aboard and around the _Minerva_ over the last few months, but seeing Athrun Zala on her deck was more unexpected than almost anything else.

Noticing the stares directed his way, Athrun lowered his hand, and turned toward Talia. "Sorry for my earlier deception, Captain," he apologized, "but as I said at the time, it was necessary. My father's memory isn't very well regarded… and for good reason."

"…Certainly understandable," Talia agreed, regaining her composure. "I think most would recognize your accomplishments in the War were very different from your father's actions, but I'll also admit there are probably quite a few who wouldn't be so forgiving. Although," she went on, glancing over at Justice, "I suspect you're quite capable of taking care of yourself, Commander."

He inclined his head in agreement. "You could say that, yeah. Still, I thought it better not to have to worry about that. And… well, like a lot of other people, I just wanted to rest after all that, and Orb was the perfect place."

"We provided a lot of people with new identities after the War," a new voice interjected, and Cagalli Yula Athha stepped off the transport… accompanied by Tom Delaney and Leanne Eldridge, who immediately walked over to Ken's side.

Interestingly, from Talia's perspective, Cagalli herself was wearing the silver and gray of Section Nine, instead of Orb's white. _Maybe to distance herself from the current government's actions?_ she hazarded. _Certainly she has reason to, after everything that happened tonight…_

"This was, of course, before the Seirans started gaining more influence," Cagalli went on, oblivious to the reaction her uniform provoked. "Even Unato agrees that what True ZAFT did was necessary, but he wouldn't have been very happy if he'd known how many of the former members -especially the ZAFT defectors- actually lived in Orb." She shrugged. "Anyway, it was the least we could do for them. People like Athrun, and Ken's people… We couldn't just leave them to fend for themselves, so Colonel -excuse me, General- Kisaka and I did some quick work with the documentation, and the rest is basically history."

Shinn tilted his head, curiosity -and the knowledge of what Orb-affiliated pilots had just done to help his ship- momentarily outweighing his usual antagonism toward Orb in general and the Athha family in particular. "Let me guess: a lot of those True ZAFT members ended up being recruited by Section Nine."

"Pretty much," Murrue agreed. "Mostly with reserve commissions only, in the event something happened, but yes, most of the old organization_was_ carried over into the new." She shrugged. "But that's really a story for another time. We've all had a long night, so I'd suggest we get this meeting going before we all fall asleep on our feet."

"Quite right, Captain Ramius," Talia agreed, and gestured toward the hatch leading back into the ship. "If you'll follow me, I've readied a conference room for it." She paused. "Ah… what about Commander Yamato?"

A distinct whirring sound was her answer, followed by the clang of boots hitting the deck. "Athrun and I will be with you soon," Kira said, pulling off his helmet. "If it's all the same to you, we'd rather get out of these flightsuits first."

"An eminently sensible suggestion," Millenia declared, and turned to Talia. "Captain, I'll be along shortly myself. I'd like to get out of this thing as soon as possible."

_Minerva_'s captain nodded. 'All right, then. We'll go on ahead; please join us when you're ready." She glanced over at the _Archangel_ officers. "If you'll all follow me, then?"

Murrue nodded back, and the small group set off… though not before Ken gestured to Leanne. The emerald-haired nodded minutely, and stepped back, allowing her "Boss" to go on ahead, with Tom a step behind and to the right.

_Take care, Boss,_ Leanne thought to herself, watching the group head out. _When Rau joins the meeting, I've a feeling things are going to get real… interesting._

* * *

_Minerva,_ Conference Room

* * *

Once the group had filed into the conference room, Talia somehow wasn't surprised to see one person remain standing. While the rest of the_Archangel_ contingent slid into chairs at the conference table, Tom Delaney simply took up a position behind Ken's chair, unobtrusively observing the scene. _Acting as a bodyguard of sorts, I suppose,_ she thought. _The bond between those pilots is definitely a strong one… if a bit odd._

"Well,"_Minerva_'s captain began, when they were all seated, "we probably don't need to wait for the others before we get started. So, before we figure out where we're all going from here, could you please explain what led up to the current situation?"

"Of course," Murrue agreed, and leaned forward, resting her chin on folded hands, elbows braced on the table. "You know some of the background already, of course; it was known over a week ago that the Earth Alliance had successfully produced additional machines with 'Preybird-based' technologies, and that they'd constructed more_Archangel_-class ships."

Talia nodded. "The nuclear attack on the PLANTs made that pretty obvious, yes. Presumably, that's what led to them having the strength to launch tonight's attack; after what happened in the First War, I doubt they'd have wanted to take on a combination of Preybird and ZAFT forces with aging technology, even if they did anticipate having destroyed Preybird before the main assault even began… at least, I assume that's what they expected." She leaned back in her chair. "But how did it all begin? Commander Yamato wasn't able to give us much detail when he contacted us during the attack."

Cagalli grimaced. "Partly my fault," she admitted ruefully. "If I'd seen where things were going two years ago, I'd have taken steps against the Seirans before… Anyway, however it came about, I started losing a lot of my political clout to my prime minister, starting about a year ago; that, I'm afraid, is what was behind a lot of my initial opposition to the Second-Stage machines: I was under a lot of pressure, and fighting a losing battle against my own government at the same time." She shrugged. "Well, as you know, things had gotten so bad in recent months that I couldn't even manage to put a stop to that ridiculous treaty with the Earth Alliance, so I finally got fed up enough that I resigned; I didn't like the idea of being a figurehead that would grant the Seirans extra legitimacy."

Orb's former chief representative looked down at the table, and sighed. "Unfortunately… it backfired. I'm sure something like this would've happened eventually anyway, but with me out of the way, it looks like Unato was able to arrange for a strike a lot faster than he would've otherwise. As near as I can tell now, he'd probably been in contact with the Earth Alliance for some time now; months at least, maybe even years… and using those connections, he set up some kind of grand scheme to get rid of both _Minerva_ and Section Nine."

"That's where things really got started," Ken interjected. Reaching up to absently rub his eyepatch, he went on, "It was obviously a very well thought-out scheme. In theory, anyway, since their execution was… flawed, to say the least." He took a breath, using the time to organize his thoughts. "At exactly 1900 hours last evening, approximately one hundred Orb SWAT officers surrounded Section Nine's local headquarters. A small group of them proceeded inside immediately, while the rest waited for some kind of signal; it was two members of this first group, including the original strike commander, that came to my office with an arrest warrant."

Talia nodded. "Yes, Commander Yamato said something about that when he contacted us. He also said, though, that he expected people to be coming after _us,_ as well; why didn't they?"

"Best guess?" Ken shrugged. "I would hypothesize that the men sent after you were instead diverted to our HQ… because things didn't exactly go according to plan there. The police commander there had no idea that 'the Major' also happened to be me, so he wasn't expecting me to cut him to pieces; nor, I suspect, did either man realize how quick Kira is with a pistol these days. At any rate, my own people fought back with greater skill and tenacity than the SWAT people expected, so the loss rate turned ruinously in our favor early in the encounter."

"So it would appear." For her own part, Talia didn't care to contemplate what the interior of Section Nine's base must've been like during the firefight; it was enough that she knew that things had, in the end, gone in Section Nine's favor. "You still took casualties, though, right?"

For the first time, Tom's face showed a trace of emotion, as a flicker of white-hot rage flashed across his expression… and Ken's cold gaze wasn't much better. "We did," he said, voice dangerously soft. "Several field agents… and more non-combatants than I care to think about." He took a deep breath, forcing the anger into the back of his mind; he'd dealt with Earth Alliance atrocities in the past, and would no doubt face more before he left the battlefield for good.

_Better to lock it up for now,_ he told himself. _If I let every heinous act get to me, I'll burn out long before the end of this…_

"That said," he continued at length, "we were, eventually, successful in withdrawing from the base, inflicting such casualties on the SWAT unit in the process that they appear to have called in the Army in the end." The faint smile that appeared on his face then was cold, and not at all humorous. "Unluckily for them, only our last group was still present when the military arrived… and we departed after only a brief -if bloody- skirmish, at which point we blew the house down around them."

Gazing into Ken DiFalco's eyes at that moment, Talia felt a tiny shiver, and noted Trine glancing away from the ace. _Those are the eyes of a man who's seen too much,_ she thought to herself. _I don't think I've ever seen someone hate anything as much as the Demon Lord hates the Earth Alliance. He doesn't let that hate control him, but it's there…_

The man clearly regretted having had to kill so many Orb nationals, but Talia had the distinct feeling that he would have executed his base's destruction quite cheerfully had Earth Alliance personnel been the targets.

"Well," she said after a moment, "I'm quite well aware of what happened after that. From what I understand, your man Saito took out much of the initial force with his unit -a Fianna, I believe it was called?- and then our respective ships launched, becoming embroiled in the main engagement. Still… there _is_ one thing that puzzled me. During the battle, I heard something about Siegel Clyne…?"

Murrue smiled. "It's not common knowledge, Captain, but it happens that both Siegel and his daughter Lacus came down with us to Orb after the War. The PLANTs were, by then, in Eileen Canaver's capable hands, and as you probably know Lacus has been engaged to Athrun since mid-70, so they both decided it was time to just step out of the spotlight."

"I'd heard the engagement was broken off," Trine protested mildly. "When Miss Lacus was originally declared a traitor…"

"Neither of them ever saw it that way," she informed him. "By that time, Athrun was already growing distant from his father, and as far as I know he never thought anything of the matter at all after he defected to True ZAFT."

_Makes sense, I suppose,_ Talia thought. _I can certainly understand them wanting to get out of sight for a while; if nothing else, the PLANTs were crawling in reporters just after the War…_

She glanced up again. "During that same discussion, Captain Ramius, you also mentioned that Mister Clyne was injured. Did something happen back at your home?"

"That's right."

Talia turned over to the hatch, for the voice had come not from Murrue but rather Athrun Zala; accompanied by Kira Yamato, they both now wore silver and white, with Athrun oddly carrying what looked like a submachine gun slung over his shoulder.

And entering behind them was…

Trine emitted a strangled gasp, shooting to his feet as thought shot from a cannon, and Talia's own eyes went wide with utter disbelief, far surpassing her reaction to Athrun's original introduction. _That… can't be…_ she thought, stunned by the sight that greeted her eyes. _He… he died, three years ago! Commander DiFalco destroyed him at Second Jachin… and even if he didn't, why would he be_here,_ wearing _that_ uniform?!_

Nonetheless, despite all the reasons that it couldn't be possible, there was no mistaking the mask the third man entering the room wore, or the features visible around it. He appeared slightly younger than when Talia had last seen him "alive", but that didn't even begin to disguise the man's identity.

"R-Rau Le Creuset…!" Trine whispered, eyes huge. "It… it can't be!"

Inclining his head in acknowledge, Rau stepped up to the table. "I realize my presence comes as something of a shock," he said quietly, "but Falcon requested that I be present for this meeting. As I have quite as much experience dealing with the Earth Forces as he does, my input may be of value. At least, I'll do what I can."

Swallowing several times before she could get her voice working again, Talia whipped her head around to stare accusingly at Ken. "Major DiFalco, what is the meaning of this?" she demanded harshly. "How is it that Commander Le Creuset is still alive? And why have you dared to bring him here? You know as well as anyone what he did, during the War!"

"Better than most, actually," Ken replied coolly, not even flinching under her fierce regard. "Believe me, your reaction is no more than mine would've been, had our situations been reversed. However, I'm afraid I must inform you that Rau is not the man he was three years ago. In the process of reviving him, my top geneticist was also able to correct the errors in his genome that resulted in his accelerated aging; that, combined with the best psychiatric specialists I could find, succeeded in repairing his mind, as well." His voice never so much as wavered… nor did his icy blue gaze.

"You expect us to believe that Rau Le Creuset is sane now?!" Trine burst out. "You want us to trust _him?!_ Major, I know records of his actions were suppressed after the War, but I assure you that this crew is fully aware of what he did! You expect us to trust-"

"I don't particularly care whether _you_ trust him or not," the Demon Lord interrupted coldly. "The simple fact is that he is a trusted and valuable member of my command staff. I suggest you remember something: ZAFT is no longer my concern. I'm not interested in whether or not your hierarchy approves of my decisions or not. The fact is that Rau's counsel is valuable to me; whether you trust him or not is entirely immaterial as far as I am concerned. If you still want Section Nine's aid, I suggest you accept that fact. If not…"

Unbeknownst to those arguing inside the conference room, Millenia Crescent had finally arrived outside the compartment's hatch… and now, hearing the muffled -but clearly heated- exchange, she paused, frowning. _What in the world is going on in there? It sounds more like a shouting match than a strategy meeting… and shouting matches aren't something Falcon's noted for._

Still perplexed, she reached for the hatch controls, keyed the hatch open, and stepped through it… only to freeze in place, eyes flaring wide involuntarily. Her cybernetic eyes registered the mask one of the compartment's occupants wore, and in the wake of shock came a burst of white-hot rage so strong she nearly drew her blade right then and there.

"_Don't lose control when handling a blade,"_ a voice whispered in her mind, and a flash of a much younger Ken DiFalco flickered before her mind's eye. _"When you strike out in anger, people always get hurt… usually more than just your target."_

Reminding herself of Ken's words -even if her opinion of him had just gone south in a big way- was enough to bring Millenia's temper back under some semblance of control… but it was with smoldering eyes and gritted teeth that she took her place at the conference table.

_You have some explaining to do, Falcon,_ she thought, furious. _But that only comes… after I rectify your insane mistake._

Oblivious to Millenia's entrance, Talia and Trine continued to stare down the seemingly imperturbable Major, anger of their own seeming to raise the very temperature of the room… except around Ken himself, who might've been carved from frozen nitrogen for all that it moved him.

Talia opened her mouth to snap out something else, but Athrun, fed up, chose to intervene. "Enough!" he barked, tossing the submachine gun he carried onto the table. "You can bicker about this later. Right now, I just want to point out that if it weren't for the Commander holding off some assassins for us, there's a very good chance that I'd be dead… as would Lacus and her father." Staring down both ZAFT officers -and briefly turning a glare on an entirely unrepentant Ken- he tapped the submachine gun. "More importantly, you people should take a look at _this."_

Taking a long, deep breath, Talia forced herself to lean back in her chair._…He's right,_ she admitted unwillingly. _The Major still shouldn't have had the temerity to bring Rau Le Creuset here -or back to life in the first place, for that matter- but just now we _do_ have bigger problems._

"Very well," she said at last, voice still tight but no longer overtly furious. "We still need to discuss this at a later time… but for now, we do have the aftermath of the attack to consider."

Faces visibly relaxed at Talia's words -as did Tom's hand, which had slipped surreptitiously into his uniform jacket- and Murrue breathed a quiet sigh of relief. _Well, that's one hurdle passed,_ she thought. _I'm not really looking forward to the "later time", but at least the situation isn't about to explode into violence any more._

She did note, somewhat uneasily, that Millenia was gazing at Rau with a cold, unblinking stare, but at least it was _some_ improvement.

As even Trine finally lowered himself back into his chair, Cagalli glanced over at Athrun. "What did you mean about that being more important?" she asked, nodding at the weapon on the table. "I know it's one of the ones the assassin team carried, but what's so odd about it?"

"Take a closer look," he said grimly. "Notice anything familiar about it?"

Those at the table -with the notable exceptions of Millenia and Rau, the latter becoming somewhat unnerved by the former's glare- leaned forward to take a closer look at the automatic weapon… at which point both of Talia's eyebrows went up in confusion.

"That's a Seburo, isn't it?" she said, looking back up at Murrue. "What's so strange about that? Seburo's based in Japan, right? The Republic of East Asia is a long-time member of the Earth Alliance, so I wouldn't have thought it so odd that the Alliance would use these."

Before Murrue could respond, Athrun reached into his jacket, withdrew a pistol, and tossed it onto the table next to the C-26. "They were carrying these, too, Murrue," he said simply, and finally pulled out a chair himself.

Murrue took one look at the Seburo M-11, then sighed in sudden comprehension. "Yes, Athrun," she said quietly, "I see what you mean." She turned to Talia. "You recognize that, I trust, Captain?"

"Standard sidearm of Section Nine," Talia confirmed, perplexed. "Another Seburo product. I still don't see the problem."

"The problem is that it was being used by an Earth Forces operative," Cagalli told her, seeing the significance now herself. "Captain Gladys, where do you think Section Nine gets its sidearms and PDWs?"

"Black market weapons dealers, mostly," Talia replied with a quizzical shrug. "Sometimes paid for by the supporting governments, as I recall, but black market nonetheless. Everyone knows that."

"What everyone knows is a lie," the younger woman said bluntly. "The truth is that Seburo has been operating against the Earth Alliance for some time now. I doubt it's entirely out of altruism," she conceded, seeing Trine's expression, "and in fact I'm pretty sure they're mostly just angry about the restrictions on weapons' sales under Earth Alliance management. Either way, though, they've been supplying Section Nine directly for the past two years… and the M-11 was designed according to Section Nine specifications. According to the arrangement between the two organizations, no one else is supposed to be using them at all."

Talia leaned back in her chair, considering the implications. _Seburo acting against the Earth Alliance… that's quite the surprise; not many private companies dare to go against their authority. But at the moment, I guess that means less than the implications of those weapons being in the hands of Earth Forces killers._

She glanced up abruptly, and saw her own realization mirrored on Murrue's face, as they came to the same conclusion at the same time.

"A propaganda operation," Murrue murmured.

"Intended to cast blame for the Clyne assassination on Section Nine," Talia agreed, gaze very thoughtful indeed now. "It's true that Seburo weapons are a bit out of the ordinary for the Earth Alliance military; and with the assassination occurring _before_ the_Dominion_ battlegroup even arrived in Orb…"

The implications were easy enough to figure out from there. The combination of the police incident at Section Nine's local headquarters and Siegel Clyne and his daughter being assassinated with weapons known to be used by the organization…

_They were trying to discredit the group,_ Talia thought, nodding inwardly. _Partly as revenge for the Greenland operation, I'd guess; but mostly because they know as well as we do that Section Nine has the potential to be a very dangerous wild card. We're trying to court them, at least for now, but it's not surprising the Earth Alliance would opt to discredit and destroy them…_

Glancing to her left, Talia turned her gaze on her wing commander. "Commander Crescent? Do you think it would've worked?" The other woman's specialty might've been flying, but Talia had learned over the past few months that she was also an astute observer of the political scene, even if she rarely spoke of it.

"…Possibly," Millenia replied at length, voice tight and fell gaze still locked on Rau. "But whoever came up with it made too many errors for it to have much of a chance."

When she fell silent again, and failed to elaborate, Kira finally spoke up himself. "To start with, their intel was way off," he offered. "Or… more like schizophrenic. They allocated the sort of firepower you'd expect them to deploy if they anticipated having to face Freedom and Preybird -which they must've known were in Orb- but the _application_ of that firepower didn't live up to it. Those Vortexes Athrun took out, for one thing: it made sense to launch an amphibious assault if they were thinking they'd catch Preybird unaware, but it still would've been smarter to use something more maneuverable. Even with what they expected to face, if the plan didn't come off _perfectly,_ they would've been sitting ducks."

"Unato didn't help, either," Cagalli interjected. "Using SWAT teams against Section Nine… If Unato had ever been a soldier, he'd have realized how stupid that was. Police, even SWAT, against the kind of people Section Nine's recruited over the last couple of years… that's just suicidal. It may well have made for a diplomatic incident," she conceded, "what with it being an arrest attempt gone bad… but either way, the _way_ it went bad just makes him look like an idiot."

Athrun nodded. "Couple that with their intelligence failures -they obviously didn't know a thing about my presence, or the _Archangel_- and it's pretty clear their intended operation just backfired on them. I think heads are going to roll in Earth Alliance Command… maybe literally."

"…You may well be right," Talia mused, leaning back in her chair. "I've heard Azrael was nearly eliminated over some of the things he did during his campaign on Earth, and he never blundered _this_ badly; certainly he didn't wipe out any of his own troops, the way Nova's nuclear attack did."

Closing her eyes for a moment, she tried to imagine what things were like in Washington at that moment. _Or more likely, Heavens Base…_ Considering that it would be mid-morning at the Earth Alliance's Icelandic headquarters, the place was probably a hive of activity about then, with people trying to figure out just what had happened…

_Whoever authorized that nuclear strike is answering some very, very tough questions right now,_ Talia wagered. _And their Intelligence chief -who is it these days? Admiral Bunansa?- probably isn't much better off. Third Jachin was a fiasco as it is; after this one… It's fortunate -for them- that someone had the sense to issue a recall order before anything worse happened._

She frowned, remembering something that had bothered her during the battle itself. "I just remembered," she murmured, "that there was something a bit strange going on at the end. The orders to retreat… they were delivered by someone called 'Major Willet', right? Of the 'Third CTAT'?" She looked over at Ken. "Do you have any idea what that's supposed to mean, Major?"

He shook his head. "I'm afraid not," he admitted. "Our sources are usually quite good, but here there seems to be a curious gap. This Major Willet and her unit… they're obviously important somehow, but I've never even heard of them. I'll be sure to start my people digging, but…"

The Major trailed, and Talia nodded in understanding. Section Nine's intelligence gathering tended to be impressive -their Greenland raid proved that- but if they hadn't already heard of someone with such apparent clout, it didn't seem likely they'd find anything now.

"In that case," she said presently, "I think that about covers everything, at least for tonight. Captain Ramius, do you and Captain Chance still intend to accompany us to Carpentaria?"

"That's the plan," Murrue confirmed with a nod. "At the moment, Section Nine has only one other terrestrial base large enough to support our full operations, and that's actually a ways beyond Carpentaria… as well as being effectively in enemy territory at the moment. Until we can get that matter straightened out, it's in our best interests to accompany you."

"Sounds like a good idea," Talia agreed.

Leaving aside the fact that she herself was beginning to take a liking to some of Section Nine's personnel, Talia approved of _Archangel_ and _Odin_'s presence for a more pragmatic reason: if some other Earth Alliance commander tried getting sneaky, the additional firepower represented by the two ships would be very welcome indeed.

"Well," she said after a moment, "I think everything's settled, then. Captain Ramius, Lady Cagalli, I suggest you and your personnel return to your own ship for the night. I think it's about time we all got some sleep."

"That, Captain Gladys," Murrue agreed wearily, "is about the best idea I've heard since all this started."

* * *

_Minerva,_ Hangar

* * *

While Murrue, Ken, and the others went on ahead to the transport back to the _Archangel,_ Rau Le Creuset slowly fell behind, his more deliberate -one might almost say plodding- pace letting the others out-distance him in short order.

_So this is ZAFT's newest and best warship,_ he thought, his gaze sliding along _Minerva_'s bulkheads. _How long has it been… since last I was on a ZAFT ship? The _Helderton,_ after Mendel, perhaps? Whenever, it's been quite some time…_

The masked commander had found himself decidedly ill at ease ever since boarding the ZAFT ship. The last time he'd been aboard any ZAFT installation at all, it had been as a scheming manipulator, out to bring about the destruction of the entire human race; now he carried with him the burden of the guilt for those manipulations… and he'd also discovered, somewhat to his own surprise, that he missed the days when he walked freely aboard such vessels.

_The time before my sanity slipped,_ Rau thought, thinking back to his assignment on the old _Hawking,_ _those were the best days of my life, I think. Falcon… is this the sort of wistfulness you feel, when confronted with the familiar surroundings of ZAFT? Do you, too, long for days when you wore the red uniform… or have you managed to put it all behind you?_

He sighed. _Well, perhaps you have… but even if so, I cannot do so that easily. The burden of my actions…_

"Rau Le Creuset."

Rau stopped in his tracks, still several meters from the transport, when he heard the soft, dangerous voice from behind him. "Commander Millenia Crescent," he said carefully, slowly turning to face the violet-haired woman. "It's been a long time."

"Not long enough," Millenia retorted. Eyes dark with anger, she stood no more than two meters away… with one hand resting on the hilt of her katana. "I thought you died, three years ago… and you should've, after what you did."

"I believed you were dead, as well," he replied cautiously, wary of her expression and stance alike. "I was pleased to hear of your survival, when Tom first mentioned it. After what happened at Alaska…"

"You mean what _you_ arranged at Alaska," she snapped back, now seeming to radiate sheer rage. "You killed me, Le Creuset. You killed me, and you killed over a thousand of our comrades that day… just as you killed the crew of the _Vesalius,_ and countless others throughout the War!"

As her voice began to rise, other members of the crew on late-night business -various mechanics, particularly those working on Strike Noir and Impulse, as well as the ship's other pilots- glanced in her direction; more than one set of eyebrows went up in surprise when they saw the level of anger coming from the normally composed commander.

Shinn was one of them. Unable to sleep yet after the adrenaline rush of combat, he'd been helping Vino and Yolant check on Impulse's leg, but now his attention was diverted by the confrontation over by_Archangel_'s transport. _That's Rau Le Creuset talking to the Commander,_ he realized, shocked. _And the Commander… I've never seen her that angry._

"I acknowledge that what happened at Alaska was, in large part, my fault," Rau said quietly, ignoring the sudden audience… and almost welcoming the danger he now realized he was in. "Moreover, I won't deny I was the reason Muruta Azrael was able to restart nuclear weapon production, after I hacked the data on Freedom and Justice, and smuggled it down to him." Raising his chin, his concealed eyes met Millenia's gaze squarely. "I won't try to excuse any of what I did, Commander Crescent. I don't ask for forgiveness, or absolution. All I can say is that the errors in my genetic structure led to such extreme pain that, over time, my mind snapped… and that I deeply regret everything I did in that madness."

Shinn, for one, wasn't sure which surprised him more: Rau's sudden appearance, his startling words… or the look of utter shock on Rey Za Burrel's face, when the other pilot walked into the hangar.

_Rau?_ Rey thought, astounded. _But that's… that's impossible! Three years ago, you… Gil said you died! And… what are you doing in that uniform…?_

By now, virtually all other activity in the hangar had ceased, as all attention was drawn to the near-shouting match… a fact which became ever more pronounced with each passing moment.

"You 'deeply regret'?" Millenia sneered, taking a slow, deliberate step toward Rau. "Are you trying to say you apologize for what you did?! Is _that_ what you're trying to say to me, Le Creuset?!"

"I told you that I don't ask absolution, or forgiveness," Rau replied evenly. "Nor do I expect them. You would be well within your rights to kill me here and now, for what I've done."

"You've got _that_ right!"

Shinn's eyes flared even wider than before at what happened next. Moving even more quickly than he'd seen her during her sparring match with Ken DiFalco, months before, Millenia sprang forward, her right hand drawing her blade from its scabbard with the whisper of metal against wood, and then the blade was coming down. "You should already be dead for what you did, Le Creuset!" Millenia snarled, slashing down with blinding speed.

The cut was not a killing blow; nor, given Millenia's obvious capability, was it intended to be one. Instead, Rau's left sleeve tore just above the elbow, and blood abruptly started to soak it from the shallow wound the impossibly keen blade opened.

Now all other activity in the hangar literally froze. No member of_Minerva_'s crew had ever seen the pilot in such a murderous rage; and from the way she'd struck her first blow, that rage was clearly deep enough for her to want to prolong the encounter.

And with the sword she wielded, even the finest body armor would've been like tissue paper against her fury.

_Beam-deflection sword,_ Shinn thought, remembering what some had said of the weapons of Ken DiFalco's students and subordinates. _The strongest swords ever forged… and she's trying to kill him with it._ He stood stock-still, unable to decide if he should be interfering… or whom to side with if he should.

Even more surprising, perhaps, was that Rau wasn't even trying to dodge. He let out a grunt of pain when her blade bit into his flesh, but he didn't even try to evade the first strike… or the next.

"The Ninth Circle!" Millenia shouted, her blade licking out again, this time staining Rau's right shoulder with crimson. "That's where you should be, Rau! The place reserved for traitors and mutineers!"

Again, Rau grunted, his face beginning to show the strain, but even when Millenia's blade spun around, then slashed down toward his left leg, he did nothing… and still refused to resist when the blade sliced into his left calf.

Blood spilled onto the deck now… and Millenia still was not finished. "You betrayed everyone and everything!" she screamed. "Me, my friends, my comrades… countless innocents lost to nuclear weapons… and Lance Cooper… they all died because of _you!"_

_So this is how it ends,_ Rau thought, almost detached. _Killed for the sake of vengeance… and by one already dead. There's a symmetry in there, somehow…_

He did, at least, let out a cry of pain a moment later, when the Millenia spun around, and slashed at his right thigh. Flesh parted under the blade's merciless edge, and with both legs now wounded, Rau fell back onto the deck, staining his silver jacket with his own spilled blood.

Seeing him fall, Millenia's face twisted with vicious satisfaction. "Now join them, Le Creuset!" she shouted, raising her blade above her head. "Patrick Zala, Muruta Azrael, James Hamilton… join them in death!"

Near the hangar's hatch, Rey started forward, instinctively trying to avert Rau's death; a dozen meters away, next to the Impulse, Shinn started to move at last, though to do what even he couldn't say. But both of them were too slow, too far away, and the sword swung down with all the might at Millenia's command-

_CLANG!_  
The crash of metal against metal resounded throughout the hangar, evoking another collective surge of shock… for another blade had interposed itself at the last instant.

Millenia's weapon was constructed of the toughest, sharpest metal ever used in the forging of a blade. First used in the making of Lowe Guele's Gerbera Straight katana, the metal had also been made into a series of human-sized blades, most of which were wielded by the Gray Demons and other students of the Grimaldi Falcon. Tough beyond the comprehension of the ancient swordsmiths, it should've shattered any lesser blade with pathetic ease.

Except that this blade was anything but normal. It bore upon its side words written in a strange script; to those learned in a now-obscure, fictional style of runes, they would have read as _"Ich bin Griever…Ich weine für den, der ist verloren… Familie… Liebe… Unschuld…"_

The strange lettering was, strangely, the first thing Shinn Asuka noticed about the blade. It took a further moment to realize that it was held in the gloved hands of a man with a gray trench coat and an eyepatch.

"Desist, Millenia!" Major Ken DiFalco barked harshly, as he held back Millenia's blade with his own. His Prussian blue eye icy, his stare was angry as it met Millenia's own fury. "Stand down!"

"Don't you _dare_ say that to me!" she snarled back… and with a burst of strength, she shoved Ken back, then whipped her blade up to her own eye level. "You know what he did! How _dare_ you bring him back, Falcon?! How could you _do_ something like that?!"

Without waiting for a reply, Millenia brought her blade down again in a cleaving stroke… a stroke that never connected, as Ken _reacted._ One foot lashed out, catching Rau with sufficient force to send him skidding across the floor; the masked man grunted in momentary agony, but realized distantly that it was better than being bisected.

"I need that man," Ken snapped, Griever arcing up from near the deck to once again stop Millenia's blade in a harsh clash of metal. "I need him," he repeated, "so keep your hands off him!"

Eyes smoldering with even greater anger now, Millenia yanked her blade away, drew it to shoulder-level, and launched a blindly-fast diagonal cut from upper right to lower left. "You _need_ him?! What kind of nonsense is that?! He deserves to die for what he did! He _has_ to die!"

Watching Ken awkwardly spin away from the scything blade, leaving it to cleave nothing but air, Shinn's mouth went dry. _She's fast,_ he thought, realizing in that instant that, during the earlier sparring match between the two, his commander had been holding back a considerable speed advantage. _That kind of speed… she's really trying to kill him!_

Ducking his head under a slash that moved so fast it would've removed his head with no more difficulty than cutting smoke, Ken launched a kick at Millenia's gut. "Don't make judgments where you lack knowledge, Millenia!" he barked. "There's more going on here than you know!"

Riding with the kick, falling back to rob it of its power, Millenia refused to give an inch in the battle of wits. "I don't care what's going on!" she retorted hotly. "After what he did, he has to die, and I don't care what 'use' he may be to you! Don't you remember Sparky?!"

For the first time since Shinn had been properly introduced to the veteran ace, he saw Ken's face go pale; though with fury or shock, he couldn't say. "I know all about Sparky, Millenia," he said, voice suddenly quiet… dangerously so. "I was there when he died; you weren't. Unlike you, he knew everything about the situation that I do… and he would've rather I use every resource at my disposal to accomplish the mission than to foolishly throw away one of the most important ones in an act of empty vengeance!"

"You call this empty?!" Snapping her blade back up to head level, Millenia half-crouched, pointing the blade directly at Ken. "The dead demand justice, Falcon… and if you don't let me give it to them, I'll _force_ you to!"

Without warning, she shifted her stance slightly… and dashed toward Rau's prone body. The groggy, bleeding man was in no shape to even recognize the attack, let alone dodge it -even had he been inclined to dodge it at all- and Millenia knew that this time, her stroke would be true.

Shinn wasn't sure, then or afterwards, exactly when Ken moved; all he knew was that he was forcefully reminded of the rumors of the Demon Lord's genetic genesis when the ace's feet left the deck in a prodigious leap, the flatfooted jump carrying him several meters across the hangar in the time it took Millenia to reach Rau.

Snarling in mixed hatred and triumph, Millenia began to swing her katana down even as she crossed the last few paces… and then, to her surprise, the blade came down even faster than she'd planned, crashing into the deck with sufficient force to cut a groove several centimeters deep.

It was only when the booted feet somersaulted off that Millenia realized just what had happened. Using every ounce of strength he could muster, Ken had leapt across the meters separating them, and actually landed _on_ the spine of her blade, using his own weight to bring the sword down prematurely.

_But it won't be enough to stop me,_ she thought savagely. _He can't reach me again before I-_

An ominous clicking sound caught her attention before she could lift her blade again… and when the clicking repeated itself a meter to one side, she understood.

"Don't try it, Millenia," Tom Delaney warned softly, his M-11 pointed at her head from a distance of precisely sixty centimeters. "We know what you are."

"At this range, it'll kill even you," Leanne Eldridge agreed, standing one meter to Tom's left, her own sidearm leveled. "You heard the Boss: stand down."

The appearance of the two ex-Demons was as surprising to the others in the hangar as it was to Millenia. Focused on the furious, totally unexpected duel, none of them had noticed the silver-and-gray-uniformed soldiers arrive; only their sudden action -and obvious willingness to go even further- announced their presence.

Gritting her teeth, Millenia slowly straightened, and turned to look not at the Demons, but rather the Demon Lord himself… at which point her eyes widened, registering the object in the man's left hand.

In the middle of his midair somersault, Ken had pulled out his own sidearm with his free hand, and now held it pointed easily at Millenia, with Griever angled off to one side.

The fact that it was in his left hand wasn't a shock; Millenia knew that while Ken's dominant hand was nominally his right, he was fully capable of performing complex manipulative action with his left hand, as well. No, the surprising thing was that his weapon was not, in fact, Section Nine's standard M-11.

Instead, it was a Martius Munitions P-96 machine pistol… the standard issue sidearm for ZAFT redcoats. This one was battered-looking, with numerous scratches and even a pair of scorch marks, which clearly marked it as one that had seen a lot of action.

_He still has it,_ Millenia thought, surprised. _His old pistol… the same one as back then._

The first time she met Kenneth DiFalco, he'd carried his ZAFT-issue machine pistol under his coat, even off-duty, despite his distaste for firearms. Clearly, he maintained the practice even now… and still retained the weapon that had been issued to him six years prior, upon his graduation from ZAFT's first Academy class.

Had it been that weapon alone, Millenia might've continued her attack anyway; though the symbolism gave her pause, the simple fact was that the Martius Munitions machine pistol lacked the power of Section Nine's standard… and Ken DiFalco was not noted for being an above-average shot with a pistol.

The presence of his two subordinates, both holding M-11s at close range, changed the equation. Millenia was fast beyond human ability… but even she was not inclined to test _this_ situation.

Seeming to follow the direction of her thoughts with ease, Ken inclined his head slightly. "Lesson Thirty-four," he said coldly. "The one who fights fair is the one who dies." Then, glancing briefly at Rau, he added, "Lesson Eighteen: If the beast cannot be slain, tame it, and set it against your other enemies." Throughout it all, neither his gaze nor his aim wavered, even as he finished with, "Perhaps he should die… but if and when that time ever comes, it will be by _my_ hand. If you continue this, Millenia, the results are on _your_ head."

Millenia glared at him… but found no response that would help her just then. She was certain Ken wasn't as confident as he appeared; given the strength she'd put into the blows he'd blocked, his muscles had to be feeling the strain. It was unlikely he could continue such a battle for very long.

On the other hand, she was also all too well aware of the fanatical loyalty Thomas Delaney and Leanne Eldridge had toward their "Boss". If Ken gave the order, or if Millenia so much as twitched in his direction, she had no doubt they would fire without hesitation.

As the last surviving "Endymion Demons", the safety of their Boss -their liege, perhaps- was their utmost priority.

At last, Millenia straightened completely, snapped her blade to one side to scatter the blood that had stained it, and sheathed the weapon. "I still say you're insane, Falcon," she said coldly, turning away. "Bringing him back… you're either crazy or a fool. Either way, that act was unforgivable. Don't think this is over… amigo."

"Don't worry," Ken replied, tone just as frozen. "I would never dream of it."

_Except,_ he amended inwardly, _in my nightmares. That strength…_ His arms felt about ready to fall off now, after blocking Millenia's blows. _You really _were_ holding back, that day… If you hadn't, it might well have killed me._

_If it ever comes down to a serious battle between us, I can show no mercy. One slip, and I _will_ die…_

Ignoring Tom and Leanne completely now, Millenia began walking off… and as she passed Rau, only now managing to pull himself painfully off the deck, she glanced at him sidelong. Stepping within a meter of him on her way by, she said three words, and was past.

"_I'll kill you…"_

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

The tremendous, grueling battle off Orb's coast has ended at last in a tactical and strategic victory for the combined ZAFT/Section Nine force. With machines on both sides damaged, Oscar Goldberg's nuclear attack has cost the Earth Alliance dear… and, perhaps, cost Lord Djibril even more, as Major Willet's words and presence hint at darker things to come…

With the battle concluded, those on the three escaping ships are able to relax at last… but for a new conflict that has arisen from within, as ZAFT clashes with the Demon Lord over the existence of one of his most trusted advisors. A rift now begins to form between Demon Lord and Black Widow…

After slightly under a month, I have returned at last. Regrettably, I fear the battle doesn't live up to the previous chapter, but hopefully it was at least reasonably good… and I trust there were at least a few unexpected twists in this chapter.

I do regret not properly following up on the introduction of the Fianna. I know it kind of disappeared after the battle's conclusion; it's not how I would've preferred things, but I was trying to keep this chapter a bit shorter than the last. The formatting problems I had last time were almost migraine inducing (spending two hours in Quick Edit correcting problems only to have all my fixes disappear when I click "Save Changes" did _not_ make my day). I'll be sure to go a bit more in-depth into the matter in the next chapter.

Oh, yes, one other thing of note for the next chapter: in case anyone has been wondering about exactly why Tom and Leanne have remained so fanatically loyal to Ken throughout the stories, fear not: some background is on its way.

Well, I think that about covers everything this time. Next update will be for A Call to Arms; until then, opinions of this one are welcome. -Solid Shark


	15. Chapter 15: Somber Thoughts

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

Also, all references to characters and events from the Equatorial Union Civil War are property of Ominae; for further information, see his story "Rebellion"

* * *

Earth, Atlantic Federation, Washington, Naval Headquarters, Conference Room, February 27th, C.E. 74

* * *

It was with his head held high that Lord Djibril stepped into the oddly-lit conference room, so similar to the various others in which he had met his fellows. As with others favored by they who spoke in shadowy chambers, the only source of light came from a panel directly above the conference table, highlighting the clothing of those around it but keeping their faces in shadow.

Despite his calm, confident appearance, Djibril was not quite as composed as he looked; though a full two days had already passed since the debacle in the Pacific Ocean, he knew the delay meant little; he was still likely in for a considerable tongue-lashing. _Indeed, they likely spent those two days finding all the possible reasons to bite my head off,_ Djibril thought. _More fools, they…_

"Lord Djibril," Maximilian Webster greeted coolly. "Please, sit."

Nodding wary thanks, Djibril pulled out a chair, then carefully seated himself at the table. "I suppose I don't need to ask why I've been summoned here today, do I?"

"You do not," Jeffrey Sutherland agreed. Though his face was, like the others, in shadow, his tone was enough -particularly when combined with Webster's less than warm greeting- to convey to Djibril that he was, indeed, on thin ice. "The… incident two days ago is a matter I'm sure you're quite familiar with."

_That's something of an understatement,_ Djibril thought sourly. He'd read Admiral Bunansa's reports quite carefully, as well as the addendums from Admiral Desai; both the Intelligence Director and Operations Chief had been in near full-blown panic mode, but had nonetheless provided as accurate information as they could.

_Admiral Desai is already on the short list for court-martial,_ he thought, _after the failure of Operation Fatman, and Bunansa didn't come off much better… and just made the most colossal intelligence blunder since the Blockade._

The end result had left Djibril with a very clear picture indeed of the situation… and considering his own, last-minute contribution to the matter, he wasn't expecting to have a pleasant time at the meeting.

"Could you, perhaps, begin by explaining just what led you and Admiral Desai to the failed landing operation, Lord Djibril?" Bruno Azrael invited. "Before we get to the consequences, I'd like to hear the reasoning that led up to the operation."

"Of course, Bruno." _Sorry, Sid,_ Djibril mentally apologized to Admiral Bunansa. _But I'll need to set out a sacrificial lamb or two if I'm to get out of this._ "You're all aware, of course, of Section Nine's actions since their inception; it's been a point of contention in this office more than once, especially over the past eighteen months. They had become a threat we simply couldn't ignore."

Sutherland nodded. "Especially when Break The World revealed the continued existence of Preybird, and DiFalco's obvious alliance with Section Nine. Sanctioning them was obviously a priority."

"Right. But getting to them was something of a problem… until Athha did us the favor of resigning her position." Djibril leaned back in his chair. "That afforded us a priceless opportunity to simultaneously rid ourselves of DiFalco, Section Nine's hierarchy, ZAFT's new warship, _and_ the Clynes, once we'd learned they were there as well. The target was far too tempting to pass up, which is why Admiral Desai put together an assault plan based on Admiral Bunansa's intelligence reports. After seeing the advantages myself, I authorized the strike at once."

He didn't bother to add that the attack plan had been Elena Desai's last, desperate attempt to salvage her own career; in this case, he had to tread a fine line between plausible ignorance and outright stupidity if he was to keep his position.

"A strike which _failed,"_ Webster said frostily. "And failed catastrophically. The presence of _Archangel,_ Justice, Freedom, and the new Section Nine machine was _not_ reported by Admiral Bunansa."

"Clearly there were intelligence failures," Djibril acknowledged, maintaining his outward calm with some difficulty. "Ones that I should, perhaps, have anticipated, after Admiral Bunansa's failure to discover the existence of the Neutron Stampeder weapon. Freedom's existence, however, _was_ known, as was Preybird's… and I believe Admiral Sykes assured me that Admiral Novak and Commander Hamilton's team would be up to the task."

"That was based on the original force estimate, Lord Djibril," a new voice interjected harshly, and the Blue Cosmos leader realized for the first time that Fleet Admiral Robert Sykes was, in fact, present himself. "As Mister Webster says, there was also Justice, the_Archangel,_ and a new model from Section Nine… as well as X105 Strike and X103 Buster, the former of which was supposed to have been destroyed and the latter still in storage in the PLANTs. Moreover, the force tasked with destroying Preybird before it could launch was defeated by one of those 'nonexistent' machines, and Nova found itself engaged in a battle it was never meant to fight."

Djibril began to sweat now, a formless dread surfacing in his gut as he began to suspect there was more going on in the meeting than he'd thought. "As I just admitted," he said carefully, "intelligence failures obviously occurred. Moreover, there must have been failures on the diplomatic front, as well, dating back over two years: most of the forces encountered by Admiral Novak's group were supposed to have been destroyed or mothballed in accordance with the Junius Treaty. And, finally, I respectfully submit that Admiral Desai's… judgmental issues are already well-known, to the point where a court martial was being convened-"

"Exactly, Lord Djibril," Azrael said flatly. "You knew of Desai's imminent court martial, and that her judgment was clearly suspect, yet you authorized the plan anyway, despite knowing both that _and_ that Admiral Bunansa's intelligence-gathering had become questionable."

_This is not going well,_ a corner of Djibril's mind thought. "All right," he said at length, "it was very probably a mistake on my part to authorize the strike. But hindsight is always twenty-twenty, gentlemen, and my own judgment at the time was that the potential gains far outweighed the risks, particularly when Prime Minister Seiran suggested the ground assault. Combined with the propaganda value of the misinformation campaign attempted by Major Johnson's team-"

Once again, he was interrupted, this time by Sykes. "You might've been able to get away with that explanation if it had just been a successful escape on the part of ZAFT and Section Nine, Lord Djibril," he bit out, "but that's not all it was, was it? No, in addition to the heavy damage to _Dominion,_ the near-destruction of Sigma, and loss of over _sixty_ mass-produced mobile suits, you also took it upon yourself, on your own initiative, to authorize a nuclear strike from Nova."

Silence fell on the room… a cold silence, one so frigid and complete that a pin dropping would not only have been loud, but shattering, as the ghost of Muruta Azrael entered the chamber. His use of nuclear weapons in a fit of frustrated pique against the Orb Union had become infamous, as had his subsequent use of them in a mere diversionary role in the retaking of Victoria Spaceport.

_This is becoming dangerous,_ Djibril thought, fear coiling openly in his gut. _But don't they see, I had to do _something_ to try and salvage the situation; I couldn't allow ZAFT and Section Nine to simply escape after inflicting such losses on us. What happened with Nova couldn't be predicted…_

"Remember my nephew, Djibril," Azrael said softly, breaking the silence by vocalizing what they were all thinking. "Public opinion crucified him over his repeated use of nuclear weapons on terrestrial targets… and the men and women in this very room came within centimeters of ordering his execution, before he finally turned his attention to the PLANTs themselves." Though his face was unreadable in the darkness, Djibril still managed to feel the older man's cold stare. "And Muruta, for all his excesses in that regard, never blundered as consistently as you have lately, and never managed to destroy our _own_ forces with nuclear strikes."

"That… that was…" Djibril paused, swallowed, and tried again. "That was completely outside my control, Bruno. I deemed it necessary to gain _something_ from the debacle, even if it required drastic measures; no one could've anticipated the action ZAFT's prototype took, nor that said action would coincidentally result in the destruction of three of our own ships…"

"Coincidentally? That makes _two_ things my brother had over you, Djibril: he didn't believe in coincidences… and he knew when to cut his losses."

Djibril's blood ran cold, as the young, female voice spoke from one of the room's darkened corners. _No,_ he thought. _No, she wouldn't be here… there's no _reason_ for her to be here…_

The soft sound of light footsteps quickly dashed any hope that he'd been hearing things, however, and a youthful woman leaned into the patch of light over the table, showing her features quite clearly. Under other circumstances, she would probably have been described as striking, at the very least; under these, she appeared predatory.

Especially her smile…

"Just in case anyone here doesn't remember me," the young blonde said, never taking her cold blue eyes off Djibril, "my name is Selena Azrael. I know I've been off in the far corners of the world for the last few years, but Uncle Bruno suggested I come back and pick up the pieces, when the whole mess was finally sorted out."

"Much appreciated, Selena," Webster said, sounding approving for the first time since the meeting began. "Your brother didn't have the greatest military sense, but if you've got half his cunning and make up for his error in that one area, I think you'll do fine in… salvaging the situation."

Djibril found his voice again at last; and, though his expression had begun to resemble that of a trapped rat, he managed to speak with a modicum of calm. "What do you mean, 'salvaging the situation'? Or 'picking up the pieces'? I can still-"

"You've made one blunder too many, Lord Djibril," an English-accented voice said softly, from behind the Blue Cosmos leader. "Surely you didn't think that would go unpunished? You've cost us three warships, almost cost us three more -as well as several priceless mobile suits- and nearly destroyed our newfound friendship with Orb. Those acts are not without consequence."

Forgetting any trace of dignity, Djibril exploded out of his chair, whirling to face the newly-revealed presence… just as the room's main lights came up.

In that instant, he found himself face to face with another rather striking woman, this one a redhead some years younger than Selena Azrael… and one dressed in Earth Alliance uniform, with an automatic pistol held rock-steady in her right hand.

"Who-?!"

"You don't need to know that," Major Karen Willet informed Djibril. "All you need to know is this: Muruta Azrael was behind my unit's formation, a fact which certain influential members of your own organization did not deem fit to pass on to you until you had proven yourself a capable leader of Blue Cosmos… which you did not." She shrugged. "Not, of course, that I like Blue Cosmos anyway, but you show a lack of restraint even greater than your predecessor's… and one which I somehow doubt the _new_ Director Azrael shares."

Djibril's momentary paralysis shattered. _I'm about to die,_ he realized, in one, endless moment of clarity. _I have to-_

He lunged into motion, though whether he was attempting to disarm Willet or simply escape was unknown… and would forever remain unknown, for he had precisely forty-six hundredths of a second in which to move.

That was how long it took Willet's finger to squeeze the trigger, at which point an 11.43mm, copper-jacketed, expanding hollowpoint bullet struck Djibril precisely between the eyes, opening a small hole through the bridge of his nose and ventilating his brainpan onto the conference table.

* * *

Gulf of Carpentaria, SNS _Archangel,_ Bridge, February 28th, C.E. 74

* * *

It was, perhaps, the strangest group of ships ever to sail into ZAFT waters. At the trio's head was the distinctive form of ZAFT's latest warship, the _Minerva…_ but following in her wake were two ships completely unlike anything ZAFT had ever produced, and were in fact the very sort _Minerva_ had been created to counter.

Of the three, _Archangel_ had taken some of the worst hits, and was unable to maintain flight. Chief Warrant Officer Kojiro Murdoch and his damage-control parties had successfully sealed the ship's hull breaches and pumped the water out into the surrounding ocean, but her levitators remained offline.

The escort ship _Odin_ was little better off… and perhaps even worse, in some ways. She still maintained flight capability, but her point defense was severely impaired, and even with emergency repairs her engines remained at lower efficiency than was strictly preferred by anyone involved.

That had left _Minerva,_ which had taken the least damage in the hours-long engagement, to act as pathfinder for the three ships, providing cover for them even as they had covered her during the escape from Orb.

Now all three entered Carpentaria Base's outskirts, making history in the process as two Earth Alliance-built vessels sailed into the confines of a ZAFT base under treaty of alliance instead of as prisoners or conquerors.

"Does it bring back memories, Ken?" the brown-haired woman at the center of _Archangel_'s bridge asked; unlike the battle three days before, she now wore proper uniform instead of a combat suit. "After all, you were with ZAFT when the base was constructed…"

The trench coat-wearing young man at her side shook his head. "Actually, I've never been here before," Ken DiFalco confessed; his gaze was locked on the approaching base, though, as other memories intruded on his mind. "I only came to Earth once, during my time with ZAFT, and for that excursion I transited via Gibraltar, instead. This is my first time in this theater of operations."

"Boy, it's not for me," Sophia DiFalco chimed in, pulling herself out of the chair to Murrue Ramius' left. "This is the first time I've seen it _complete,_ sure, but I was here for the First Battle of Carpentaria. About the only good news was that they didn't deploy the DINN till a month and a half after that; as it was, the submarines and the Guul-riding GINNs were bad enough."

As a former Earth Forces fighter pilot, Sophia spoke from a great deal of experience; Carpentaria was only one of several major battles -and dozens of skirmishes- that she'd participated in with the old Earth Forces standard F-7D.

"I never expected to come here like this," Natarle Badgiruel said softly, emerging from CIC. "Carpentaria Base… the dream objective of any Earth Alliance commander, during the First War. It was so heavily defended that the only way I would've expected to end up here was as a POW."

"I think that's what any of us would've thought back then," Mu La Flaga agreed; he was leaning against a bulkhead toward the bow, looking -as usual- somewhat amused by the whole proceedings. "This is, after all, the base they directed most of the War from, until Operation 8.8..." He frowned. "Say, where's Le Creuset? I figured he'd be here to see this."

"Still down in his quarters," Kira Yamato told him, coming onto the bridge with Cagalli Yula Athha and Athrun Zala in tow. "He's taking it easy while his wounds heal… and I think he's a bit worried about his reception here."

"Considering that Millenia nearly sliced him to pieces, I don't blame him," Ken said, expression turning dark. "That woman… I'll be watching her closely from now on, you can be sure of _that."_

Murrue gaze him a searching look. After the ace's return to the _Archangel,_ he'd been visibly unnerved… and more tired than even the battle could fully account for. From Leanne Eldridge's subsequent description of the altercation, Murrue could partly understand Ken's reaction, but there also seemed to be more going on than anyone would admit. Ken was a swordsman of some note; considering his mastery of the Ganryu School, she'd not have thought he'd be so disturbed by the encounter.

_There's something going on here that he's not telling me,_ she thought. _But… well, for now I'll let it be. If it becomes something we _all_ have to worry about, I know he'll tell us; until then, it looks like it's one of those things he prefers to take care of himself…_

"Incoming transmission from Carpentaria Base, Captain," Flay Allster called, breaking into Murrue's thoughts. "The Base Commander would like to speak with you."

"Please put him through, Flay," Murrue requested, looking up at the main display. _This should be interesting… Let's hope this officer isn't an anti-Natural bigot, or one of those who think of Ken as just short of the Antichrist._

The image that appeared a moment later dispelled her worries with a smile… and shattered another of Murrue's assumptions, in that the face -framed by neatly-arranged black hair- was clearly female._"Captain Murrue Ramius, I presume,"_ she said pleasantly. _"Welcome to Carpentaria Base."_

"That would be me, yes; and thank you," Murrue replied, with an answering smile. "It's a pleasure to be here."

"_Considering the mess I heard you went through a few days ago, that doesn't surprise me, Captain. I'm Commander Raquel Carver, by the way,"_ the ZAFT whitecoat added. _"I was at Alaska, three years ago; very nice maneuvering you pulled out there."_ Carver glanced at the figure at Murrue's side, and her smile widened. _"Well, hello there, Falcon. Never thought your first visit to Carpentaria would be on an Alliance-built ship, but either way it's good to see you."_

"Likewise, Raquel," Ken said, with a nod and a small smile of his own. "It's been… four years now?"

Murrue glanced at him curiously. "You two know each other?"

"He_was_ a ZAFT pilot for the first three years of his career, Murrue," Cagalli reminded her dryly. "My partner there probably knows most people who were in ZAFT back then."

Her tone, Murrue noticed, was much lighter than it had been three days before. The former Chief Representative had _not_ been amused to learn she'd finished readying Strike Rouge just in time to not participate in the battle.

"_More specifically, Lady- er, _Commodore_ Athha,"_ Raquel corrected herself, seeing the younger woman's uniform, _"I graduated from Class B-Nine of the 68 Group; Falcon was B-Eight, so we were contemporaries. After that, I was a GINN pilot on the old_Einstein_ during the Blockade, First Jachin, and Yggdrasil, flew a CGUE from the Lorentz Base on the Grimaldi Front, and commanded the _Oppenheimer_ for Operation Aquilae, before receiving team command in time for the later battles on Earth."_

"To summarize," Ken said, voice dust-dry, "Raquel has had a long and eventful career, during which our paths crossed several times."

"_Indeed."_ Raquel's eyes moved over Murrue's head, glancing toward the rear of the bridge, and one eyebrow went up. _"Would that be Commander Kira Yamato I see, perchance?"_

Kira blinked, surprised at being singled out. "Uh, yes, that's right," he answered quizzically. "Why do you ask?"

"_Because you blew up half my CGUE at Alaska,"_ Raquel replied, sounding strangely amused. _"At the time, I wanted to turn you into dog meat, but in hindsight you're probably the only reason I survived that battle."_

"Uh… you're welcome, I guess," Kira said uncertainly. "That was pretty much the reason I was using those tactics, since I knew it wasn't likely either side would believe me about the Cyclops…"

"_Believe me, Commander, I understand completely,"_ she assured him. _"Alaska was quite a mess, on all sides… Anyway,"_ she went on, turning businesslike, _"you officially have permission to dock. I'm sure there'll be much for us to discuss later, but for now, please make your way to Dock Three; our shipyard people will take things from there. They're a bit busy already, but I think we can spare some attention for such valuable allies."_

"I appreciate it, Commander Carver," Murrue said sincerely, thinking of the nightmare the repairs would've been had they been limited to just their own personnel. "Till later, then.""

Raquel nodded, and her image vanished from the screen.

Ken stepped toward the bow of the bridge, expression suddenly thoughtful, and walked up the catwalk in front of the bow viewport. _It's strange,_ he thought, gazing out at the ZAFT base as it grew larger in the viewport. _The battles I fought early in the War gave us time to deploy terrestrial forces and construct bases like Carpentaria, yet the first time I lay eyes on the place is over three years after I left ZAFT service…_

His mind flashed back several years, to when he still wore a red uniform beneath his coat, instead of the silver he was now clad in. To when his only goal had been the defense of the PLANTs against the oppression of the sponsor nations… to what had probably been the happiest years of his career, fighting as a soldier of ZAFT.

_That was the one place where I truly felt at home,_ Ken thought, his eyes now looking upon a sight beyond Carpentaria, one of steel walls and blackness beyond the viewports. _I've been a lot of things in my life -engineer, rebel, architect, counterterrorist- but the only career I truly loved was as a ZAFT soldier. Those days, when everything was so simple, when I had a place I was truly proud of…_

"Huh," Arnold Neumann said suddenly, gazing out the viewports himself. "That's interesting."

Murrue glanced at him, distracted from observing Ken's contemplation. "What is it, Arnold?"

"Well…" He nodded toward the hangars near the other edge of Carpentaria Base. "It looks to me like something happened here not long ago, Captain. It looks like there's a lot of repair work going on out there right now."

She saw Ken stiffen in sudden realization, and left her chair to see for herself. Walking quickly to Ken's side, she looked out upon the base… and nodded in understanding, seeing what had gotten their attention.

The base itself appeared to be intact, suggesting that no fighting had reached its confines, but clearly its attached forces hadn't been so lucky. Out in front of the hangars, numerous DINNs and ZAKUs -along with a handful of old GINNs and CGUEs- stood, kneeled, or lay on the tarmac in various stages of repair, disassembly, and outright ruin.

Moreover, as her gaze swept back along the docks, she noticed a number of_Vosgulov_-class submarine carriers being worked on… and, interestingly, at least one Alliance-built _Spengler_-class carrier was also in port, its deck cratered, superstructure virtually obliterated, and remaining mobile suit compliment being offloaded even as she watched.

"Well," Natarle said at length, "that explains what Commander Carver meant about the base's mechanics being busy. It looks like the Earth Forces tried to take the place while we were still en route… and didn't come out of it too well."

"I'll say," Ken agreed, his eye riveted on the _Spengler._ "I do believe that's the first time I've ever seen _any_ Earth-built warship docked at a ZAFT base, either in space or on planet."

Murrue nodded silently. Clearly, the new war had already begun to heat up, less than a month after Third Jachin's catastrophic conclusion.

The only question, as far as she could see, was how long it would take for the _Archangel_ to be pulled back into the conflict after _this_ round of repairs was completed.

_Well,_ she amended, _that… and how many of us are going to come back from _this_ war. After what happened last time, it's a safe bet that there's going to be a _lot_ of casualties when everything is said and done._

It only remained to be seen how well _Archangel_ would stand up to the new challenges that awaited her.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

Talia Gladys leaned back in her chair with a sigh of profound relief, as Malik Yardbirds skillfully guided _Minerva_ toward her assigned dock. _Back in ZAFT territory at last,_ she thought gratefully. _It's been too long…_

To be sure, the months the ship had spent in Orb had been mostly restful, but there had always been a faint sense of foreboding, and the Seirans had been just shy of openly hostile whenever forced to deal with the ship… and even without that, it just wasn't _home._

Carpentaria Base, on the other hand, was one of ZAFT's oldest and toughest Earth bases. If any place on Earth could be considered a "home away from home" for a denizen of the PLANTs, it was Carpentaria.  
_And one thing we _all_ need is a short rest…_

The past few days had been stressful, to say the least; the grueling battle on the way out of Orb had been one of the nastiest experiences Talia had ever been through… and the immediate aftermath hadn't helped any, when she'd learned the identity of one of the Major's top aides.

_Rau Le Creuset,_ she thought, shaking her head. _I can't believe Major DiFalco was insane enough to bring him back; I hope he's at least smart enough to keep the man out of sight as much as possible at Carpentaria. But even that's not quite as worrisome as the other matter; if Millenia keeps acting like that…_

The totally unexpected confrontation on _Minerva_'s flight deck had concerned Talia almost as much as Le Creuset's simple existence. Millenia Crescent was normally as stable as they came, a tough, reliable commander with the professionalism and skill of any three other officers; which, of course, made her attack on Le Creuset even more of a concern, in that it was completely out of character.

Talia had heard several different versions of what had happened down there, varying widely in detail, but several things seemed confirmed: that Millenia had attempted to slaughter Le Creuset with a sword, that the man had refused to fight back, and that the bloody business had been abruptly interrupted by the intervention of the Major… along with his two most trusted subordinates, both of whom had, by all accounts, been entirely prepared to execute Millenia on the spot.

_Well,_ she thought wearily, _we'll just have to see about making sure those two don't get anywhere near each other again… at least until Millenia cools down._

Talia shook her head again. Personality conflicts were bad enough normally; when they involved swords and murderous intent, they were ten times worse.

"We've docked, Captain," Malik called, breaking into her thoughts. "All engines stopped."

"Thank you, Malik," Talia responded (referring both to the report and to his interrupting increasingly morbid thoughts). "Meyrin," she went on, glancing over at the young woman, "please get in touch with Base Command, and start getting our schedule sorted out; and once you've done that, have Aves coordinate with the base engineers regarding our repairs."

"Right away, Ma'am," Meyrin Hawke acknowledged, and raised one hand to her headset as she began opening communications with the other. Base Commander Carver had already been in touch with them, but there still remained a myriad of details to sort out before they could truly relax.

_Anyway,_ Talia thought, _at least we're in friendly territory now._ Then she frowned, as another thought occurred to her. _Yes, we're in friendly territory _now…_ but how are the PLANTs going to take what happened to us a few days ago? They couldn't have taken the nuclear attack very well, and with an unprovoked attack by theoretically friendly forces added onto it…_

* * *

Lagrange Point 5, PLANTs, Aprilius City, Colony One, Gilbert Durandal's Office

* * *

A young man in ZAFT red, with blonde hair and green eyes, waited outside the Supreme Council Chairman's office. Appearing calm and composed on the outside, inwardly he was more than a little puzzled by the summons he'd received.

Certainly he had reason to be confused. Though Heine Westenfluss was a redcoat of not inconsiderable skill, and had fought well in the recent defense of the PLANTs, he couldn't figure out what might've brought him to the attention of the Chairman himself; as far as he knew, he hadn't done anything _that_ significant lately.

_The only thing of much significance I've ever done,_ he thought, frowning inwardly, _was to fight Morgan Chevalier and nearly defeat him, but that was three years ago… and even then, it wasn't _that_ important, and I nearly got killed there, too…_

Still, confused or not, here he was, and he supposed he'd find out what was going on soon enough.

Heine didn't have to wait long. Within a few minutes of his arrival, something happened… and to his surprise, it wasn't the secretary waving him on in. Instead, the inner office's door opened, and Gilbert Durandal himself stepped out.

The redcoat instinctively snapped to attention, hand flashing up into a parade-ground-perfect salute. "Heine Westenfluss, reporting as ordered, Your Excellency," he said crisply.

Durandal waved a hand. "Please, at ease, Heine," he said with a smile. "There's no need to be so formal; and if you'll come with me, we have much to discuss."

Even more puzzled than before, Heine relaxed his stance, and followed the Chairman into the office. As seemed to be something of a tradition, it was dimly lit; the explanation for that was found quickly, when he noticed the large display on one wall, which seemed to be showing old footage of Lacus Clyne, and an active monitor on Durandal's desk, displaying what looked to be some kind of technical data.

"Please sit down," Durandal invited, gesturing to one of a pair of chairs set on either side of a small table, itself bearing a chess set. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting," he added, as they settled into the chairs. "I was dealing with some PR issues, and lost track of time."

"I understood, Sir," Heine replied, though in fact he understood essentially nothing of what was going on.

Durandal smiled again, as if he knew exactly what the pilot was thinking. "You must be wondering why I asked you to come here today," he noted.

"…To be honest, I _am_ a bit surprised, Your Excellency," Heine admitted. "I'm honored, of course, but… I'm not really sure what this is about, Sir."

"No doubt." The Chairman leaned back in his chair. "It's actually somewhat complicated, so let me start at the beginning. You of course know all about the Third Battle of Jachin Due, having participated in it yourself, so you should have some understanding of the challenges currently facing the PLANTs… and the difficulties we're having with public opinion."

"I've heard about it, yeah," the younger man acknowledged cautiously.

In the wake of the attack -which was the _third_ time the Earth Alliance had made use of nuclear weapons in a direct assault on the PLANTs- the PLANTs' populace had been in an ever-increasing uproar, enraged both by the resumption of conflict itself and -perhaps even more so- by the use of nuclear weapons. The outrage was probably the best thing for ZAFT recruiters since the Bloody Valentine… but it was also a cause for great concern within Durandal's government, and Heine was at least sufficiently versed in politics to get the gist of their problems.

After all, one thing Durandal and his government had emphasized from the very beginning was peaceful diplomacy with the nations of Earth; the Chairman had long maintained that a renewed conflict with the Earth Alliance would lead only to more pointless destruction, repeating the horrors of the First War. Even when the Second War had become inevitable -when the ludicrous ultimatum had made it clear it could not be avoided- Durandal had insisted that the war would be fought as defensively as possible. ZAFT would take the offensive in defeating any threat to the PLANTs, but they would _not_ take possession of Earth territory; this was to be about defending the Homeland, not conquering _new_ lands.

The current mood in the PLANTs, however, was making that difficult. Outraged by the nuclear attack, the average citizen wanted retribution… and many moderates -like Heine himself- feared that would take them back to the road Patrick Zala had led them down years before.

"Well," Durandal said presently, "things have gotten even worse in the last few days. Have you heard about what happened in Orb three days ago?"

Heine shook his head. "I've been busy; and I stopped watching the news for a while when I got sick of the radicals' ranting." He tilted his head. "Has something besides the Chief Representative's resignation come up, Your Excellency?"

Durandal nodded. "You could say that. Three days ago, Orb attempted to arrest all members of Section Nine within its borders… and cooperated with the Earth Alliance in launching an attack on _Minerva_ as the ship left port."

The pilot's eyes widened. "They did _what?"_ He started to say more, then closed his mouth with a snap, coloring, as he remembered who he was talking to. "Sorry, Sir. They actually attacked _Minerva,_ despite promises of safe conduct? Are they all right?"

"Yes and yes," the Chairman replied, inwardly amused by Heine's reaction. "They did indeed attack, eventually using over sixty mobile suits, orbital strikes from three battleships, two_Archangel_-class mobile assault ships, and an _Odin_-class escort ship." He smiled faintly. "Unfortunately for them, they bit off a bit more than they could chew."

Heine blinked. "Uh… pardon me, Your Excellency, but I'm afraid I can't figure out how _Minerva_ even survived all that, let alone accomplished what you're suggesting."

"I'm not surprised. After all, officially the only support they should have had was _Odin,_ and one additional ship shouldn't have made much of a difference. However…" Durandal leaned forward in his chair. "It seems that Section Nine's Major wasn't inclined to let himself or his people be taken into custody… and a certain remnant of the War had been hidden within Orb all this time…"

* * *

Carpentaria Base, Docks

* * *

Shinn Asuka stepped out of _Minerva_'s airlock, onto the solid ground of the base, and took a deep breath._This is much better,_ he thought, allowing himself a small smile. _After all that time in Orb… I guess it was good to see the place again, but ZAFT is more like home now than there. Sure is a lot friendlier, anyway._

"Wow," Lunamaria Hawke breathing, walking to his side and gazing around at the base with undisguised fascination. "It's _so_ good to be back in allied territory again… So this is what Carpentaria Base is like, huh? I'm impressed."

He nodded wordlessly, taking in their surroundings himself. He'd been born on Earth, spent his first fourteen years in Orb, but this was his first time at a planetary ZAFT base; most of this was as new to him as to his friend. _DINNs,_ he noted, glancing at the line of mobile suits over by the hangars._Atmospheric flight-type machines… I guess the new BABIs haven't completely replaced them yet._

Shinn could tell that the base had been involved in some serious fighting not long before; the last time he'd seen that many mobile suits in such rough shape was during the attack on Armory One, when the stolen prototypes had essentially blasted everything in sight. The only significant difference here was that the base facilities themselves seemed to be fully intact.

"I wonder what happened here," Rey Za Burrel mused quietly, exiting_Minerva_behind them. "Did the Earth Forces attack?"

"Not directly, I think, Za Burrel," a new voice interjected. "If they had," Leanne Eldridge went on, walking over from _Archangel_'s dock, "there'd be a lot more rubble around here." She nodded at the battered mobile suits. "If I had to guess, they were intercepted short of the base's defense perimeter. Besides, after that disaster outside Orb, they probably didn't have the forces handy to commit to a serious attempt to take the base."

"I can believe that." Luna shook her head. "You know, I'd heard the Earth Forces could be stupid, but that orbital drop was bad even for them… especially that nuke they used at the end."

"Don't make the mistake of assuming the Earth Forces have a habit of stupid tactics, Miss Hawke," Leanne warned, falling into step with the trio. "They have something of a blind spot when it comes to nuclear weapons, but believe me, they have some _very_ sharp people. We finished off Hamilton by the skin of our teeth three years ago, and Truman would've gotten _Archangel_ if Admiral Halberton hadn't turned up when he did." Then she shrugged, relenting slightly. "On the other hand, you're right: that operation was a bungled mess. Compared to, say, Endymion -where they turned a tactical defeat into a strategic victory- it was positively brain-dead."

Shinn nodded absently. For all that the Earth Forces had an almost dogmatic fixation on nuclear weapons, they also had a habit of being devilishly clever. The Battle of Endymion very nearly ended with a ZAFT victory, which would've given them effectively complete control the Moon… until the Earth Forces revealed the existence of a Cyclops System beneath the base. A massive microwave array, its activation destroyed the entire base, along with the vast majority of surviving Earth Forces units… and secured complete victory by killing ninety-eight percent of the attacking ZAFT forces.

The move to construct mobile suits of their own -begun with the authorization of Lewis Halberton's "Project G"- had been another masterstroke, and one which finally evened the odds between the two sides of the conflict. It had also eventually led to the existence of their deadliest enemy, Kira Yamato, by giving him access to GAT-X105 Strike, but it still brought them to more even footing with ZAFT.

The masterful trap that was JOSHUA Base was the final evidence even the most biased observer needed to realize that the Earth Alliance, however cold, was also very, very cunning. Leaked intelligence -on both sides of the equation- led to over eighty percent of ZAFT's Earth-based fighting strength being wiped out, along with most of the Eurasian Federation's active forces, thus taking out both a huge chunk of the enemy and much of the Atlantic Federation's rival's strength.

A slight glitch in the scenario had been _Archangel_'s survival, but that had been more due to Mu La Flaga's accidental discovery of the plans and Kira Yamato's arrival than any failure in the Earth Alliance's planning.

"Sounds like they allowed too much direct control over the operation by the wrong people," Rey said presently, frowning thoughtfully. "The planning involved actually reminds me of the failed nuclear attack on the PLANTs."

Leanne nodded. "It's probably not a coincidence. My bet is that some idiot allowed Desai and Bunansa to try and save face by taking us out." She made a face. "Emphasis on _try._ There's loyalty to people who honestly tried their best, to trusted allies and the like… and then there's cronyism, a concept as old as militaries, refined by twentieth-century communists, and near-perfected by Logos."

Luna blinked. "…Logos? Excuse me, Commander Eldridge, but I've never heard of any such organization."

The older woman waved a hand. "No reason you should have, Miss Hawke; you don't really have the 'need-to-know' to have heard the details. Suffice it to say that they're a big part of why we do what we do."

Her words merely puzzled Luna… but Rey stiffened inwardly, and shot the Section Nine operative a very sharp look indeed. _They know about Logos? And it's "a big part" of why they operate as they do… which means they've known for quite some time._

_Come to think of it, we've never really been able to learn much about the reasons behind Section Nine's formation. So many of the records are hidden or destroyed… and there's probably a lot that was never entered into the official record at all. It sounds like Canaver and DiFalco really _were_ up to something when they made the decision to create the organization._

He resolved to get in touch with Durandal on the matter as soon as he could. They had both been concerned by Section Nine's operations for some time now; this new evidence added much more weight to those concerns.

Oblivious to Rey's internal speculation, Shinn had focused on another matter, as his gaze fell unconsciously on the blade tied to Leanne's uniform belt. It was, perhaps, of rather less than immediate importance, all things considered; but on the other hand, he was just a pilot. Anything truly important would be figured out at higher levels, and his part would come in when it came time for _Minerva_ to head out again.

"Excuse me, Commander," he said at length, "but what you said about loyalty… It's something I've been wondering about for a while now, if you don't mind me asking."

Luna glanced at him, mildly surprised; much as she liked Shinn personally, she knew he wasn't usually overly deferential to superior officers, particularly when said officers weren't even members of ZAFT. _But then, this _is_ a Gray Demon he's talking to; I guess if anyone would get that kind of respect from him, it'd be one of DiFalco's people…_

Leanne raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Shinn?"

Shinn half-shrugged. "Well… I've just kind of wondered, for a long time, just what it is that's kept the Gray Demons together all this time. I mean, after everything you've been through over the past four years…"

She gazed at him speculatively. _One sharp kid,_ she thought to herself. _Bit of a temper, but he's smart… and no slouch in the cockpit. No wonder the Boss likes him…_ "Well," Leanne said finally, "it's… something of a long story." She tilted her head. "Are you guys up to anything important right now, or are you free to chat for a while?"

"We were just going to see about getting some lunch," Luna replied, shaking her head. "Or at least Shinn and I were; Mister Aves needs us to help get our machines offloaded for proper repairs later, but that's not for a few hours yet."

"I've got a report to take care of," Rey said, falling out of step. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

"See you later, Rey," Shinn told him, and turned back to Leanne. "So, Commander…?"

She nodded. "Let's drop by the base mess hall and pick up some chow, then head for the officer's lounge. It's kind of a long story, but you may find it interesting…"

* * *

PLANTs, Aprilius One, Durandal's Office

* * *

"…so in the end, the entire operation was far more damaging to the Earth Alliance than to our forces," Durandal finished, leaning back in his chair. "Admittedly, there were a number of fatalities among Section Nine, and the Earth Alliance _is_ now aware of their additional firepower, but overall the casualty rate was ruinously in our favor."

Heine nodded slowly, mind working furiously as he took in all that the Chairman had just told him. On one level, it was astonishing that the Earth Alliance would've attempted something so likely to blow up in their faces, but on the other, things he'd heard about Unato Ema Seiran indicated it wasn't entirely out of the question on Orb's part.

And, to be fair, the forces committed by the Alliance would very likely have sufficed to wipe out their targets had the force levels on the part of ZAFT and Section Nine actually been what was anticipated.

_So, the _Archangel_ still exists… and both Freedom and Justice._ He shook his head, remembering the last time he'd seen those mobile suits. It was during the Second Battle of Jachin Due, not long after a Möbius Zero interrupted his battle with Morgan Chevalier. That day, they'd been enemies, along with their ship… yet now, they were apparently among ZAFT's closest allies.

_Well, I guess that's just how things work out sometimes,_ he thought. _In war, all kinds of unexpected things happen… And now, at least, I understand what the Chairman meant about the mood in the PLANTs getting worse._

Heine looked up. "Is there any way to keep public opinion from demanding an all-out assault on the Earth Alliance, Sir?" he asked, troubled by the idea of escalating the conflict to such a scale. "If we take things that far…"

"I understand, and share, your concerns, Heine," Durandal assured him. "And I'm taking steps to calm things down; part of that, in fact, is why I called you here today." He reached into a pocket, withdrew a small box, and handed it to the pilot. "Take this."

Puzzled, Heine opened the box, and frowned in incomprehension at the object within. It was clearly a form of insignia, but it wasn't any kind he was familiar with: a sort of wing shape, unlike anything he'd seen before.

"It's the emblem of FAITH," Durandal told him, smiling faintly at the puzzled look on his face. "Fast-Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters. It's a new unit, formed partly in response to recent events… as well as the lessons of the last War, taught by those like Commander DiFalco and the _Archangel."_

"I don't understand," Heine admitted.

Durandal stood, and walked over toward the wall display. "What FAITH is, Heine, is our response to a need for a way to bypass the proper chain of command when necessary, to provide certain individuals with the authority they need to get the job done when there isn't time to consult with higher authority." He looked over his shoulder at the pilot. "FAITH answers not to ordinary commanders, or even to ZAFT High Command, but rather to the Supreme Council itself. It will consist of soldiers whose loyalty is beyond question, with proven judgment and skill… and you, Heine, are one of those fit to assume those duties."

Heine looked at the Chairman for a few moments, then back down at the insignia in his hands. _Answering directly to the Supreme Council… the authority to bypass the chain of command and get the job done… trusted beyond question…_

"Why me?"

The question was out of his mouth before he even realized he'd started to speak, but Durandal took no offense. "You're one of the elite, Heine," he said quietly. "You survived Second Jachin, and fought against True ZAFT despite sympathizing with Commander DiFalco's goals. You have always remained true to the PLANTs, and have showed considerable skill in defending them. As such, you are an ideal choice as one of the first FAITH operatives." He turned fully, looking Heine in the eye. "Will you accept this new role, Heine Westenfluss? Will you become one of those most trusted defenders of the PLANTs?" The Chairman's gaze burned into Heine's own.

"Will you take on the role once given to Kenneth DiFalco?"

* * *

Carpentaria Base, Officer's Lounge

* * *

Afternoon light, streaming in through the window lining one entire wall, glanced off the silvery blade, reflected perfectly by its mirror-like surface. Gleaming, impervious, the surface's smooth lines were altered only by the graceful letters etched into the blade, and these letters merely filled another need, without detracting from the blade's beauty.

"_Sobald ich ein freier Vogel war, f__ü__hrten meine Fl__ü__gel nur durch den Wind… Jetzt wird mein Flug durch Zwech gefahren, wie ich ihm folge, der mir Zweck gab, denn ich bin Oathkeeper, und er ist mein Grund zu leben…"_

Though Shinn recognized the words Leanne whispered as German, he would've been hard-pressed to pronounce them himself… or understand them. They had the sound of something profound -much like the blade upon which they were inscribed- but the only word of the lot he understood was "Oathkeeper", which he took to be the katana's name.

"That was… something about a free bird?" Luna said uncertainly. She and Shinn sat side by side in chairs near the wall-to-wall window, a half-forgotten sandwich in her lap; and she, like her friend, was more than a little perplexed by Leanne's brief soliloquy.

"Yes," the older woman confirmed, her gaze locked on her blade as she swung it through a brief, intricate exercise. "'Once I was a free bird, guided only by the wind… Now my flight is driven by purpose, as I follow he who gave me purpose, for I am Oathkeeper, and he is my reason to live…'" Leanne turned toward them, lowering her blade to her side. "This sword is a symbol, both of the Gray Demons' general battle philosophy and of our loyalty to our Boss."

"I've heard about that," Shinn said quietly. "I remember one of my instructors saying something about that… and he also said those blades aren't easy to make."

Beside him, Luna stifled a snicker. Shinn had been an excellent learner, achieving high marks at the Academy, but his attitude had been… in need of improvement, as some had charitably put it. When it came to an opportunity to learn more about the "Grimaldi Falcon", however, he had a pronounced tendency to become a veritable sponge -and a quiet one, at that- absorbing all the information he could.

_Well,_ she thought to herself, _at least _somebody_ has that effect on him…_

"That's right," Leanne said, in answer to Shinn's comment. "They're made from Orihalcon -so dubbed from its resemblance to the legendary metal- and the material isn't even easy to find. When you _do_ find deposits of it, it takes a great deal of skill to craft it into anything useful; to my knowledge, the only people capable of producing the genuine article are Tom, Lowe Guele, and the old swordsman who taught them both, Un No. Victor Tempest's Freedom Mark II wielded an imitation, but it shattered easily." She ran a fingernail over the blade's inscription, careful not to let her skin come into contact with it. "The inscription is acid-etched; standard etching tools don't even scratch it, and lasers just bounce off."

"Kind of overkill, though, if you ask me," Luna noted. "Why bother with Orihalcon for a regular sword? It's not like you're going to be deflecting lasers or anything with it."

"Two reasons," Leanne replied easily, sheathing Oathkeeper without a glance. "First, like I said, it's a symbol: since the only other Orihalcon weapons in existence are something on the order of fifteen meters long, you can be pretty sure that anyone you see wielding one_this_ size is somehow connected to the Gray Demons. And second…" She grinned suddenly. "Makes for a great door opener sometimes. The Boss once cut his own door through a solid wall with Griever, and it's also strong enough to take bullet hits without a scratch."

The younger woman shook her head. "No wonder you people aren't in ZAFT anymore," she remarked. "You're too weird even for us." Standing abruptly, she shot a speculative look at the ex-Demon. "Just what holds you people to DiFalco, anyway? What started all this? You all used to just be ordinary ZAFT soldiers; what made you change like this?"

Beside her, Shinn had to admit he'd had similar thoughts over the years, especially after finally encountering the Demon Lord himself aboard_Minerva._ He admired DiFalco and the Gray Demons, both for their renowned skill and their courage in acting against their own superiors in order to prevent GENESIS' use on Earth (and just incidentally avenging his family's deaths), but even he had questions about the apparent fanatical loyalty the Demons held toward their commander.

_There's loyalty to your commander, and then there's fanaticism,_ he thought. _And one thing I've always wondered is why DiFalco didn't return to ZAFT after he was vindicated… and why Eldridge and Delaney followed him into that exile._

Leanne stood there for a moment, head tilted to one side, appearing to seriously ponder Luna's question… and then, abruptly, her demeanor changed completely. "We all had our own reasons for following Falcon," she said easily… without showing a trace of how odd it was that she'd suddenly changed how she referred to her "Boss". "None of us were exactly alike in that area… but we all go way back with him." She turned toward the window, her stance different from before; more… self-confident, somehow. "I don't know if either of you know the story of when Victor Tempest was killed the first time, but Falcon told him that day that he didn't base his choices for team assignments on friendship."

"I've heard something about it," Shinn offered. "Even when I was in the Academy, there were a lot of rumors floating around about the Grimaldi Front."

"Well, that's one of the true ones. Except," she amended, turning around with an intense look in her eyes, "that Falcon wasn't being entirely truthful when he said it. Because the fact is, his primary criteria when selecting us were skill… and loyalty."

"Loyalty to what?" Luna demanded. "Himself?"

Leanne half-smiled. "Hawke, Falcon's arrogant, but he's not _that_ arrogant. No, it wasn't loyalty to himself, or even to ZAFT… but to the PLANTs. As just about the entire world knows, he always put his allegiance to the PLANTs over his obligation to ZAFT itself, since he viewed ZAFT as being meant to uphold that allegiance. In the process, however, he ended up recruiting several people whose loyalty to _him_ was actually far greater than any patriotic ambitions. Now, don't get me wrong," she added quickly, "we were all loyal to the PLANTs… but for some of us, like Tom, Sparky, and me, that loyalty was personified by Falcon himself, and gradually transferred _to_ him."

Luna shook her head in exasperation. "Okay, I kind of get that… but_why_ were you so loyal to him, specifically? I mean, I know he's got quite the reputation, and he can make inspiring speeches all day long, but he doesn't have _that_ much charisma!"

"Don't be so sure," Leanne countered with a grin. "You haven't seen him much without his mask… or in the old days, when he was still a soldier of ZAFT. But you're right, there's more to it than that, at least for a few of us." With one quick, smooth motion, she drew Oathkeeper again, raising the blade into the afternoon light. "This blade was forged by Tom; so was Falcon's Griever, and that's how those two first met. Back then, they barely knew each other… and not many people knew Tom much at all. He was a closed-mouthed, anti-social loner. An orphan, in fact, who'd spent most of his life being bounced from orphanage to foster home and back again, plus a brief stint as a runaway in the Debris Belt, where he met Un No.

"Falcon became his first real friend, when they started sparring together in early 69. He was the first person to get Tom to open up, over time, and Tom's been grateful to him for it ever since." Leanne's eyes took on a faraway look, seeing something the younger pilots couldn't. "Later on, Falcon saved Tom's life; they were both involved with the Copernicus security in early 70, and Tom was nearly blown up during the bombing. Falcon pulled him out just in time… and he later returned the favor, at the Bloody Valentine. After Falcon flew his GINN to pieces, Tom was the one who found him in the debris cloud, unconscious, and brought him back."

"Huh."_Well, that certainly explains things,_ Luna thought. _Kind of sounds like… Delaney used to be a lot like Shinn. Now _there's_ a weird thought… No wonder Shinn idolizes DiFalco, though, with that kind of unit history…_ "Well," she said aloud, "I guess we don't really need to ask about Captain Cooper; everybody knows about the training accident back at the Academy. Cooper's GINN Trainer is still there, used as an example of what not to do… but what about you, Commander Eldridge?"

"Me?" Leanne's smile was almost wistful this time, remembering a time from her own past. "That's kind of a long story…"

* * *

Carpentaria Base, Conference Room

* * *

"Looks like you've had some customers of your own here recently, Commander," Mu La Flaga noted, as he and several other officers from _Archangel_ and _Minerva_ followed Raquel Carver into the room. "The Earth Forces getting uppity again?"

"A little," Raquel admitted, moving to lean against the far wall, next to a window; with the room being on an upper floor, it had an excellent view of the base tarmac. "You probably saw on your way in what I meant about our mechanics being a bit busy; that's why."

"What exactly happened, Commander?" Talia asked, sliding into a chair at the conference table. "I didn't see any damage to the base facilities themselves, but it looks like your mobile suit forces took a lot of hits."

The base commander grimaced. "The day after you guys fought off the attack outside Orb, some Earth Forces admiral apparently got it into his head to take revenge by attacking Carpentaria; makes some sense, I guess… but unluckily for him, we saw them coming over a hundred klicks out. We had two _Vosgulovs_ -the _Ballard_ and the _Cussler-_ out on patrol, so we vectored them in with their Guul-equipped GINNs and CGUEs, and dispatched DINNs and ZAKUs from here."

"How large was the opposing force?" Murrue asked. "You don't send that much firepower out without a good reason."

"The entire Atlantic Federation Fifth Naval Fleet," Raquel said quietly.

Murrue, Mu, and Cagalli winced simultaneously, and even Ken flinched noticeably. Three years earlier, the Fourth Naval Fleet had attacked Orb, with the end result being the near-total destruction of the entire country. _A lot of that was because of the Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider,_ Cagalli thought darkly, remembering her father's death, _and the use of nukes… but even without all that, it would've been bad._

Indeed, later analyses they'd run indicated that sheer numbers would've eventually resulted an evacuation being required even without nuclear weapons. Freedom, Justice, and Preybird would've wrought a great deal of havoc all by themselves… but in the end, they would've been the _only_ defenders remaining.

"That couldn't have been an easy battle for you," Murrue said after a moment. "In fact, I'm actually a little surprised you managed to fight them off."

"More luck and more skilled pilots than we had any right to count on, Captain Ramius," Raquel answered soberly. "More than a few of whom didn't make it back afterwards. In the end, though, reinforcements from orbit dropped in, evening the odds a bit… and, from what we can tell, someone in the Earth Forces who still had a brain caught wind of the operation, and countermanded it two hours in." She smiled thinly. "They lost around fifty Daggers before that, though, and left behind that _Spengler_-class you saw at the dock."

Talia shook her head, bemused. "The Earth Forces haven't been acting as smart as they usually do lately. That makes, what, three operations in a row that backfired?"

"Something like that," the commander agreed… but all trace of amusement had vanished. "It's not going to last much longer, though. Admiral Sid Bunansa and Admiral Elena Desai were executed this morning."

Ken stiffened. "Executed?"

"For incompetence bordering on treason," Raquel confirmed quietly. "And reading between the lines of the announcement, we think the current head of Blue Cosmos -who apparently authorized at least two recent operations from the shadows- has also been killed."

Those present from the _Archangel_ exchanged significant looks. The deaths of Bunansa and Desai weren't altogether surprising; considering their recent blunders, it was only a matter of time. But the execution of the current Blue Cosmos head…

_We were helped by his incompetence,_ Murrue thought darkly. _Compared to Azrael, he wasn't very good at what he did; and we figured it was better the devil we knew than the one we didn't. If he's dead, then Logos will probably select a more skilled successor, and that's not going to be good for any of us._

"That's not good news," Kira -heretofore silent- said quietly, voicing the general sentiment. "I guess it's not that surprising -I'm more surprised they lasted as long as they did- but it's not good. So far, this war's been more of a stalemate than anything else, because the Earth Forces couldn't figure out how to regain the initiative; but if they put proven officers into those slots…"

"I know," Raquel agreed. "But as it happens, they also announced their replacements, and I have to admit being surprised by the choices they made. I don't know much about their new Intel chief -a Vice Admiral Anne Lincoln- but for Desai, they're apparently putting Admiral Chernock back on active duty."

Murrue blinked in surprise, and Mu and Ken's jaws dropped as one. "_Les Chernock?"_ Mu repeated, stunned. "He's been drinking himself into a stupor in Mexico for five years! After the way ZAFT made him look like an idiot in the Blockade, I can't believe anyone would have the guts to even suggest taking him off half-pay, let alone have the clout to actually pull it off!"

Ken nodded in silent agreement, his mind flashing back five years to the day of his first battle. The days when Rick Lacan had shepherded his career, when Nick Drallig had still been on speaking terms with him… when he'd been one of those pilots to introduce the Atlantic Federation to the latest in mobile weapons. _Mikhail Coast started it that day, and the rest of us tore through those M__ö__biuses so fast Chernock's head was still spinning when his backside landed in a bar in Vera Cruz. Scuttlebutt said the Board of Inquiry deep-fried him so bad anybody who even thought about bringing him back would be scorched to a crisp…_

"Still," Murrue said thoughtfully, "it's true that Chernock was mostly just a scapegoat; under the circumstances, there really wasn't much else he _could've_ done, and he _did_ have a good reputation before that…"

"True enough, Captain," Raquel acknowledged. "Still, it's a bit surprising to see his name after all this time." She grinned suddenly. "On the bright side, though, it'll probably take him a week or two to get his blood-alcohol level down to one that allows him coherent thought. We can take advantage of that delay."

Talia looked at her, eyes narrow. "Does that mean, Commander, that the Defense Committee is planning offensive action in the near future?"

"It does." The base commander's demeanor turned serious again. "Captain Gladys, I'm sorry, but _Minerva_ is going to be deployed again as soon as repairs are complete. Also…" She turned to Murrue. "Captain Ramius, it's my understanding that Section Nine forces aided _Minerva_ during her breakout from Orb; that's how you ended up here in the first place, after all. So I have to ask: is Section Nine prepared to formally ally themselves with the PLANTs at this time?"

All eyes went to Murrue at that moment. It was, after all, a fair question; Section Nine had been formed explicitly as a third party intervention group, supported by the PLANTs and Orb but answerable to neither, and to date they'd scrupulously maintained that neutrality, other than giving ZAFT the Strike E.

But now, of course, things had changed. One of the group's own sponsors had turned on them, attempting to -and very nearly succeeding- destroy them, leaving them without their primary terrestrial base and much of their resources.

"Yes, Commander Carver," Murrue said at length, not bothering to consult Ken (Section Nine's nominal CO) before making her reply. "At this point, Section Nine has no choice but to offer its full support to the PLANTs. This is far more clear-cut than the last war… and the Earth Alliance has attacked us directly, with the aid of one of our own sponsors." She met Raquel's gaze levelly. "If you're looking to coordinate our movements with _Minerva_'s, we're all ears."

Raquel relaxed visibly. "I'm glad to hear it, Captain; and on behalf of ZAFT's terrestrial forces, I extend my deepest thanks." She jerked her head at the window, motioning at the lines of battered mobile suits. "The fact is that we're not in quite as good shape as we'd like. Overall, we think we've still got the advantage militarily… but it's looking like the Earth Alliance is beginning to catch up."

"Project Zeta," Mu said, with a nod of understanding. "Am I right?"

"Mostly," she confirmed. "Project Zeta, the new _Archangel_ and _Odin_-class ships… and we've begun to hear ugly rumors of other new machines. The Earth Alliance is finally moving toward technological parity with us again, and that's probably going to be aided by Orb's recent defection. Right now…" She sighed. "Right now, we could use all the help we can get."

Talia closed her eyes. _I hadn't realized it was this bad,_ she thought to herself. _I should've -running into Nightwing was a red flag four months ago, and what happened three days ago was even more of one- but I never really thought that it could get this bad. Three years ago, the Earth Alliance's only really common mobile suit was the Strike Dagger, which was no match for our GuAIZs. But now, after over two years of peace, they've had time to catch up; not to mention the theft of the Second-Stage units…_

She raised her head. "Is it really that bad, Commander?" she asked quietly. "You make it sound like we're already taking a lot of damage."

"Well," Raquel answered, equally quietly, "the fact is that we do not have the advantages we had at the start of the First War. The Earth Alliance has mobile suits now, too, and they know better than to expect an easy victory just because they outnumber us. _But,"_ she went on, eyes lighting up suddenly, "don't count us out just yet, Captain Gladys! We haven't been idle, either." She grinned ferally. "For one thing, Carpentaria is supposed to get its first squadron TRVF-51s next week."

Cagalli blinked. "You've already put the Fianna into production yourselves?" she said in surprise. "I mean, I knew ZAFT was going to be using them too, but… Well, Morgan only just got his operational a few days ago, and we still don't have most of the others ready."

"That's because you use the 51A models," Raquel reminded her. "To cut costs, most of ZAFT's Fiannas don't have VPS, NJCs, or plasmaburners; chops the price in half, and lets MMI put them together a lot faster. They're still more than capable of dealing with most airborne threats here on Earth, just not quite as good as the A models. They'll be more than adequate for defending Carpentaria, added to the ZAKUs and older models we've still got here." She smiled again. "But that's not all the good news I've got. Captain Gladys, we've received word that they laid the keel for _Pallas Athena _last month."

Ken and Murrue exchanged a blank look, but Talia leaned forward in her chair, interest in her eyes. "I didn't even know they'd approved her construction," she said, pleasantly surprised by the news. "The last I'd heard, they were waiting to see how well_Minerva_ did in actual combat before approving her."

"I think _Minerva_ acquitted herself quite well last October, Captain," Raquel said dryly. "You may remember a certain chase toward the Debris Belt, a couple of shooting incidents with an Earth Forces spec op ship… oh, and I think I heard something about you being the only reason Junius Seven didn't wipe out all life on Earth. Put that together with the crisis brought on by the ultimatum, and the Defense Committee knew it was time. Your performance three days ago only adds to it."

Talia nodded slowly. "That makes sense," she murmured. _In fact, I'm almost surprised it didn't happen earlier, now that I think about it. With all that happened last year, I'd have thought they'd have immediately begun the next ship's construction… Maybe a couple of the newer Council members slowed things down?_

It was entirely possible. From things Durandal had mentioned in dispatches to _Minerva_ while the ship was in Orb, she gathered that some of the newer Supreme Council members -those elected during the post-war era- had been less inclined to risk escalation than those who remembered the horrors of the First War. Though they'd eventually acquiesced to readying ZAFT for war, they might well have dragged their heels a bit afterwards.

"Excuse me," Murrue said politely, breaking the brief silence, "but what's the _'Pallas Athena'?_ I recognize the reference, but…"

"She's the second ship of the _Minerva_-class," Talia informed her, smiling now. "I'd guess that part of the Council's reasoning for constructing more of the class now is the Earth Forces' possession of additional _Archangel_ and _Odin_-class vessels. At this point, we need the additional firepower. Right, Commander?"

"Essentially," Raquel confirmed. "Of course, we didn't know about the new_Archangels_ until a couple weeks ago, but the old _Thor_ and a couple of her sisters go back to Second Jachin, and then there's the ship your people ran into at Armory One. The Council has decided the _Nazca_ and _Laurasia_ fleet is no longer sufficient."

"Understandable," Murrue mused. "_Archangel_ and the original _Dominion_ proved how dangerous even one mobile assault ship could be back in the First War, after all… I don't suppose they've announced a captain yet?" Even if they had, of course, there was a good chance she wasn't familiar with the name; most of her knowledge of ZAFT officers came from defectors to True ZAFT or secondhand from Ken. Still, there were a few she knew of…

"They have, actually," the other woman answered with a nod. _"Athena_'s going to Captain Fritz Ames."

Murrue shrugged; as she'd expected, the name didn't ring any bells for her. Ken, on the other hand, straightened in his chair. "Fritz Ames?" he repeated. "As in…?"

"Commandant Ames' son," Talia confirmed, glancing over at the Major. "You knew his father, didn't you?"

"…Yeah," he said quietly, memories shadowing his visible eye. "He was commandant when I was in the Academy, and I actually met him at graduation. And…" He closed his eye. "He died protecting me, at the Bloody Valentine. Also," he went on, opening his eye again, "I met Fritz at the memorial. Good man, steady as they come, and as brilliant a leader as the Commandant was."

Seeing the expression on his face, and the somberness of his tone, Murrue resolved to ask him more about his early years in ZAFT. Even after being together for the better part of three years, she still had never pried much into the Bloody Valentine, or the events surrounding it. _Too private,_ she thought to herself. _Too many memories for him… but I think it's time. For me, and for him…_

"Well," Raquel said presently, "if there's no other pressing business, I'd like to talk to you all about deployment plans. Obviously, this is subject to change until you're actually ready to move out, but there are a few generalities I'd like to go over, at least…"

* * *

PLANTs, Aprilius One, Durandal's Office

* * *

_The role once given to Kenneth DiFalco,_ Heine Westenfluss thought, staring at nothing as he thought over Durandal's words. _That role… if the rumors are true, he was once Zala's right-hand man; but more than that, he was a troubleshooter. That was part of what he did for Zala, and it was what he always did after he left ZAFT. And… at the core, his role was what? Defending the PLANTs? Yes… a defender of the PLANTs, and eventually one with the authority to do what he needed to do without asking for permission first._

_Some people still call him a traitor for how he used that authority -that most of it he created for himself, by breaking with ZAFT- but the fact is that he _saved_ the PLANTs, in the end. It was because he was, however crazy, a patriot, loyal to what he saw as his duty, and had the freedom to act on it…_

"…Exactly how would I do this, Your Excellency?" he asked at last. "I can't do this alone; and a ZAKU or even GOUF isn't going to be enough for just one person to have that much of an effect on the battlefield. Even the Grimaldi Falcon had the Earth Forces' Raptor, and then Preybird…"

"I'll show you soon enough," Durandal promised with a smile. "And the fact that you asked me that before giving your answer is more evidence that you're exactly the man for the job. But first… there's something you need to see." He nodded at the display. "What you're about to learn is classified so highly that fewer than a dozen people outside this room know it; but if you're to be operating as I suggest, you'll be exposed to the truth soon enough."

Before Heine could ask what "truth" was being spoken of, the Chairman stepped to his desk and touched a button… and the sound on the display came to life.

The display that, Heine realized now, was not of a recording, but a live event.

Lacus Clyne was just finishing a song when the sound came up, and Heine's thoughts raced furiously _How? She disappeared after the War three years ago, just like the rest of True ZAFT; she and her father both went to ground and haven't been seen since! When did she return… and how did the Chairman find her in the first place?_

His thoughts trailed off as Lacus finished her song, and turned to look straight into the camera. "Citizens of the PLANTs," she said, "it's a great pleasure to see you once again. My time of rest away from here was pleasant, but being here once again feels very good."

_Hard to believe she was a war leader,_ Heine thought, eyebrows going up involuntarily. _She sounds like an ordinary pop star, not one of the political leaders of True ZAFT._

"Now that I've returned, however," Lacus went on, obvious pleasure tempered in her eyes with seriousness, "I have heard many things that sadden me. The attack on Armory One four months ago, the charges leveled against the PLANTs for Break The World, and more recently the nuclear attack launched by the Earth Alliance… I'm sure these things trouble all of you, and I can even understand the anger you all must be feeling. I even share some of that anger," Lacus admitted.

_Okay, now that sounds a bit more like that girl who helped steal _Eternal, Heine thought. _Makes sense; nobody's _that_ full of sweetness and light._

"However," she continued, "we can't simply let that anger get the better of us. Three years ago, I saw firsthand the sorrow and tragedy war brings with it. When my ship, the _Silverwind,_ was attacked and destroyed by the Earth Alliance when I was preparing for the Bloody Valentine Memorial, I was rescued by the _Archangel,_ and saw many things while aboard, both the prejudice of some Naturals and the way others reach out in friendship. Months later, as part of my father's Clyne Faction, I was hunted as a fugitive by Patrick Zala's government, and then took to the battlefield myself as a member of True ZAFT; from the _Eternal,_ I saw the true depths to which war can bring us.

"Yet I also saw great courage, and great sacrifice, from those dedicated to bring the fighting to an end without the bloodshed some on both sides sought." Lacus' eyes took on a sad look, as though remembering the very sights she spoke of. "You all know the stories of those brave men and women, of Freedom and Justice… of _Arkbird_ and her crew. Her captain was once my father's bodyguard, and later my own, and he was one of the bravest individuals I've ever known. He and his crew sacrificed their lives to stop Patrick Zala… and in doing so, they helped bring about the peace we enjoyed for two years, but at a terrible cost."

_Yeah,_ Heine thought to himself. _I would've been one of them, if I hadn't already launched… But I've heard about those people, Miss Clyne. I really doubt Cooper rammed Jachin for world peace; more likely he was thinking of DiFalco. That's how the Gray Demons are…_

"Now the cycle of war has begun once again," Lacus said quietly. "The Earth Alliance has once again attempted to use the terror of nuclear weapons to destroy us… and more recently, the _Minerva_ and her allies were betrayed by Orb and set upon by the Earth Alliance. These are very troubling events, and we cannot sit idly by and accept them… but I beg you all: remember the lessons of the past! If we allow ourselves to retaliate on the scale our anger would demand of us, we will only bring about more death and destruction, to no purpose! Yes, we must defend ourselves, but please, don't let hatred and anger lead you onto a path which we would all regret. Once again, the potential to destroy us all is far too great…"

"Magnificent, isn't she?" Durandal murmured, turning to look once again at Heine. "What do you think, Heine?"

"…I think she's right," the pilot admitted, tearing his gaze away from the screen. "But I also think something isn't quite right here. I've never met Lacus Clyne, but I know her reputation, and I was at Second Jachin. Something about the way she's speaking…"

The Chairman nodded. "You're quite correct; and this is why I wanted you to see this before you made your decision. Because you see, that isn't Lacus Clyne at all…"

* * *

_Minerva,_ Hangar, February 29th, C.E. 74

* * *

"_Ich bin der Vogel von Hermes und esse meine Fl__ü__gel, um mich zahm zu bilden… Sobald ich fiel, aber jetzt ich stehe, wieder zur__ü__chgegangen vom Abgrund zum Kampf, als Einherjar… So rufen Sie mich Valkyr…"_

Like the inscription on the blade's twin, these words were also encrypted in near-indecipherable runes… and, like Griever's cryptic words, these had a special significance to the blade's owner. Just as Griever symbolized the Demon Lord, so did Valkyr reflect her owner's soul.

A soul in conflict, as the blade sang through the air of _Minerva_'s hangar, sweeping through a perfectly-measured arc, at a precisely-calculated speed.

Millenia Crescent halted Valkyr's flashing slash near deck-level, to her left, then twisted her wrists, pulling the blade into a wicked backhand sweep, arcing back to her upper right… and then, as if encountering the resistance of another weapon, paused it midway. Artificial muscles tensing against an imaginary counter-force, she gritted her teeth, hesitated for a moment, and lashed out with a booted foot.

Though she connected with nothing but air, she reacted to it as though having caught her adversary in the chest, knocking him back and off-balance. Spinning Valkyr in her right hand, she pulled the blade back up to head level, perfectly vertical, and swept her left hand up to the weapon's hilt, near the pommel.

Taking a quick, steadying breath, she launched herself forward, bringing Valkyr down in a cleaving blow that would've rent any opponent asunder… for barely a second elapsed between kick and finishing blow.

Landing in a crouch, Millenia paused there for a moment, before straightening again, a grim look on her face. She swept Valkyr off to her right, spattering imaginary blood, then swept her forward again, one handed, and traced an "X" pattern in the air.

Ritual finished, Valkyr flashed back, sliding neatly into her scabbard at Millenia's left hip.

_That's how it should've gone,_ she thought bleakly. _One clean blow… I would've ended it right there, if I hadn't needed to make him _feel_ it… All of this would've been finished before Falcon could even think of interfering…_

Falcon had done some things in the past that she questioned; his refusal to return to ZAFT after the War had been a major point of contention, for example… and his engagement to Murrue Ramius had hurt a great deal, as well. But bringing back Rau Le Creuset… It was more than merely a mistake, as far as Millenia was concerned.

_It's unforgivable,_ she thought angrily. _That bastard is the reason I'm in this body… this infuriatingly precise body. He betrayed us all at Alaska, manipulated both sides into nearly destroying both Earth and the PLANTs… Falcon, he even killed _you_ once, at Endymion! How could you _do_ this?! And how dare you stop me from finishing the job?!_

The Demon Lord's actions in this case made him live up to his new alias, as far as Millenia was concerned. Normally her opinion of him was high -to say the least- but this… this tarnished even her view of the man.

And she vowed not to along his egregious action to go any farther… which was why she was in this far corner of the hangar, away from everyone else, practicing her old skills.

_The problem,_ Millenia thought, glaring at the air, _is getting _to_ the bastard. As long as he's sheltered on _Archangel_ or _Odin,_ I can't get anywhere near him…_

Her new body was both extremely fast and extremely powerful, far beyond the limits of an ordinary human. Millenia knew that strength and speed would be enough to overwhelm Leanne Eldridge or Tom Delaney individually, despite them being skilled swordsmen in their own right… but even she wasn't certain she could take on both at once, and she _did_ know they'd both fight her without hesitation, as dictated by their loyalty to their "Boss".

Moreover, if they held her off long enough for Falcon himself to arrive, the equation would change drastically. Fast and powerful as Millenia was, Falcon was a completely different issue from his two subordinates. To her knowledge, the only practitioner of the Ganryu School who possessed greater skill than the Demon Lord was his own teacher; and considering the amount of time Sasaki Kojiro had invested in training the ex-ZAFT ace, that meant he was tremendously dangerous.

_Dangerous enough that he stopped even me,_ she thought darkly. _Our little sparring match was one thing; we were both holding back in that one, and I didn't know he knew the Tsubame Gaeshi back then. When I tried to kill Le Creuset…_

Falcon had been tired from the long battle. Millenia knew that, just as she knew he had been driven to the point of exhaustion by her own relentless blows. Yet despite that, he'd possessed great enough energy reserves to buy time, even managing a leap to drive her blade into the deck; an act which had given Tom and Leanne just enough time to arrive and end it.

_And that's another problem,_ Millenia thought with a mental sigh. _Le Creuset is my only target; even for that, I don't want to kill Falcon… and Tom and Leanne aren't part of this in the first place…_

"So… you really _are_ alive."

Millenia turned, and her right eyebrow went up. "Hello, Dearka," she greeted. "It's been a while… Though I thought I proved my continued survival back during Break the World."

Dearka Elsman shrugged. "Sort of," he admitted. "But… that still didn't really explain anything. I hadn't seen you since the Bloody Valentine memorial, back in 70; and the last I'd heard after that was that you'd been killed at Alaska. So just hearing your voice at Junius Seven only raised questions, without answering any."

_I'm sure,_ Millenia thought dryly. _Well… I guess I can't get away with some flippant explanation here; Dearka's too smart for that, and he knows the official reports already._

"Walk with me," she said finally, nodding toward a corridor leading deeper into the ship. "No offense, but it's not something I'd like to explain where others might hear; I don't like telling my secrets to everybody around."

Dearka shook his head, falling into step with her. "You're just like Falcon," he said conversationally. "You two both like secrets too much." He glanced at her sidelong. "Are _your_ secrets the kind that get people killed, like his?"

Waiting until they'd passed through the hatch into the corridor, Millenia smiled faintly. "That depends," she said lightly. "To my friends, it's just something I don't like to talk about. To my enemies? Well, to them it could be fatal…"

* * *

_Archangel,_ Conference Room

* * *

"Weird how things work out," Mu mused, leaning against a bulkhead, coffee mug in hand. "Once upon a time, we'd have been here as invaders; and yet yesterday, we had a strategy meeting with a ZAFT commander, and arranged to include _Archangel_ in ZAFT operations…"

"It_is_ quite a change from the last time," Murrue agreed quietly, leaning back in her chair. "But then, that was before we realized just how corrupt the Earth Alliance really was." She sighed. "Before they tried to kill us all at Alaska."

Their eyes both darkened with the memories. Once, every member of the_Archangel_'s crew -Mu and Murrue included- had been loyal members of the Earth Alliance, committed to defeating ZAFT. They hadn't cared about the genetic component of the conflict -Murrue had known Ken from years past, and Mu had long since come to respect the Coordinators he met in battle- but they'd truly believed restoring the status quo was the right thing to do.

_We all believed in that cause, _Murrue thought, thinking back to the old days. _Just as Ken was a loyal ZAFT soldier, we all fought as hard as we could for the Earth Forces. Admiral Halberton inspired and led me and others, showed us something we could believe in… and then everything changed…_

Mu's faith in the Earth Alliance had been tested by Endymion, but not broken; despite the loss of his unit in the battle, he'd realized quickly that there really had been no other option but to activate the base's Cyclops system, or else risk losing control of the moon -and, just incidentally, everyone on it- entirely.

But Alaska had been something else entirely, something terrible enough to completely destroy their loyalty to the Earth Alliance… and yet even then, it hadn't been easy for them. Abandoning their homeland had been easier for them than for Ken, but only because it was plain_most_ of the Alliance's higher-ups were corrupt.

_And now… we're here, at the one place we never thought we'd be greeted as friends…_

"When you think about it," Andrew Waltfeld said softly (all the while sipping one of his unique coffee blends), "it's probably just as well. How long do you think you would've remained with the Earth Forces after that, when you saw how cavalierly Azrael used nuclear weapons?"

"You have a point," Mu admitted, gazing down into his mug. "But… there's more to it than that." He looked over at the pair standing at the opposite bulkhead. "Something tells me Kira here would've gotten us thinking hard soon, anyway." He grinned. "I mean, come on: he turned up like a knight in shining armor -complete with protective talisman from a princess- and even got together with the princess just after that!"

Kira -the Haumea pendant still around his neck after three years- coughed, looking away uncomfortably, and Cagalli glared at Mu through a blush, absently fingering the Order of the Nebula at her own throat. "It saved his life, didn't it?" she snapped, pointedly ignoring the last part of the sentence. "Without it…"

On Kira's other side, Athrun Zala winced slightly, remembering _exactly_ the incident she referred to. _If Kira hadn't somehow managed to survive that, I'd never have forgiven myself…_

"Ahem," the trench coat-wearing figure by the hatch said pointedly. "Is it really necessary to dwell on that? If we wanted to go over all the times we nearly killed each other, we'd be here all day."

Considering that Ken had fought against Mu several times, served on the opposite side of Murrue at First Jachin, tangled with Athrun's team throughout _Archangel_'s previous journey, clashed with the Waltfeld team in the desert, and briefly tried to kill Kira at both Alaska and Second Jachin, he had a certain amount of experience in the area.

Cagalli winced. "Sorry about that. But," she added, with another pointed glare at Mu, _"he_ was the one who started it!"

"Moving on to something more mature," Murrue said dryly, "do you have an estimate on the repairs, Natarle?"

Natarle Badgiruel, heretofore silent at the table, nodded. "Yes, Murrue." She tapped a report on the table before her. "According to Chief Murdoch, it's going to take some time; what with the damage to their own forces, Carpentaria's engineers are going to be tied up repairing their mobile suits for several days, so they won't be able to devote much attention to _Archangel_ yet. With that in mind, though, _Archangel_ herself can probably be ready in another week or two after that; our only major damage was to the levitators, after all."

"And it helps that _Odin_ won't be much of a consideration," Mu noted, and Natarle nodded in agreement.

_Odin_, as per the new operational parameters as set up with Raquel Carver, was going to be heading for the Equatorial Union as soon as her radar net was up and running again; though her point defense would still be less than optimal until her missing Igelstellungs were replaced, it had been determined that threats on the way would be minimal until the Earth Alliance regrouped from the combined losses at Orb and the abortive attack on Carpentaria.

With that in mind, the ZAFT and Section Nine officers had deemed it wise to get in contact with the Equatorial Union directly. Though the nation had officially signed the World Security Treaty Organization proposal, the fact was that the current government -and the populace- had no intention of repeating the path that led to the civil war in late 71; and though it was not widely known, Section Nine had a hidden planetary base within the nation's territory.

From there, _Odin_'s repairs would be completed, and plans would be made to consolidate Section Nine's remaining planetary forces… and possibly bring in assistance from the Equatorial Union itself, if it could be done without bringing down the full wrath of the Earth Alliance.

"Well," Murrue said after a moment, "I can't say I like being out of action for that long, or losing _Odin_'s aid, but I suppose it can't be helped. And, of course, _Minerva_'s proven to be a great help, as well… as have her pilots."

Before anything more could be said, the compartment's hatch opened, ands Lacus Clyne walked in. She wore the same style of dress as the one she'd used in her capacity aboard _Eternal,_ three years before; a subtle nod toward her renewed responsibilities. "Good afternoon, everyone," she greeted, looking more cheerful than she had in days.

"Good afternoon, Lacus," Murrue replied warmly, noting absently the protective way Athrun moved to her side. "How is Siegel?"

"That's actually what I came here to tell you about," the younger woman replied brightly. "Doctor Hibson released him to his quarters a few minutes ago. He's recovering nicely now, and should be able to take off the bandages in the next week or so."

"That's good news," Andy said with a relieved nod. "I was a little worried about that myself." As Siegel Clyne had been instrumental in both keeping him alive and getting him command of the _Eternal_ -and thus into the burgeoning True ZAFT faction- he felt a debt of gratitude to the man. "I still think he should've been sent off with the _Odin_ this morning, but…"

"Father won't run away like that," Lacus told him, shaking her head. "He stayed behind at the Eyrie three years ago, because his role _after_ the fighting would be too important… but this isn't like then. He's retired from politics entirely, so he wants to see this through with us, even if he can contribute only a little."

"Brave man," Mu said quietly. "Dunno if I'd have the guts to sail into battle without being trained for it… but then, compared to things like the Tragedy of Copernicus, this is probably pretty minor to him."

"Yes," Lacus agreed. "He believes traveling aboard _Archangel_ will be less hazardous than being a high-profile political leader was."

Murrue nodded thoughtfully. _He's probably right,_ she mused. _Being aboard this ship has never been exactly _safe,_ but at least we're not usually the targets of assassins, either._

She opened her mouth to say as much… and at that moment, a bulkhead monitor lit up, with the unmasked visage of Rau Le Creuset. _"Pardon me for interrupting,"_ he said without preamble (and, despite his bandages, looking more alive than he had in days), _"but there's something you all should be aware of. Miss Lacus, did you know that you are, in fact, in the PLANTs at this very moment?"_

Lacus blinked, exchanging a perplexed look with Murrue. "Um… may I ask what you're speaking of, Commander?"

"_Bring up the feed from PLANT Central News,"_ Rau replied, an odd look in his eyes. _"This was originally broadcast yesterday, but it's only now being relayed to Earth. I don't think any of you are going to be reassured by it."_

Taking another quick sip of coffee, Andy quickly stepped forward, activating the holographic display above the conference table, and promptly switching it to the news feed.

"…_my ship, the _Silverwind,_ was attacked and destroyed by the Earth Alliance when I was preparing for the Bloody Valentine memorial…"_

Mu snapped straight so fast his spine popped, and his coffee nearly spilled. "What in the _world?!"_

The others shared his sentiments, staring at the image with similar degrees of disbelief; none more so than Lacus Clyne, who found herself staring into the eyes of… herself.

Silence reigned in the compartment for several moments, as those watching stared in incomprehension at what must have been Lacus, and yet could not have been Lacus. The resemblance was so close as to be exact, and yet Lacus was standing in that compartment with them, so how…?

Ken's head snapped up, and his gaze locked with Rau's as they came to the same realization at the same time.

"_Meer Campbell."_

* * *

PLANTs, Aprilius One, Durandal's Office, February 28th, C.E. 74

* * *

Heine blinked, more confused now than when he'd first been summoned to the Chairman's office. "Not Lacus Clyne at all…?" he repeated, bemused. "What do you mean, Sir? It certainly _looks_ like Lacus Clyne…"

"Careful -and discreet- cosmetic surgery," Durandal told him, turning off the display again. "Aided by the interesting coincidence of genetics that gave this girl a voice nearly identical to Miss Lacus'."

The pilot shook his head. "All right, I can get that. But… why?"

The Chairman walked pensively over to one wall. "Because we needed Lacus Clyne, and we didn't have her available," he said simply. "I don't possess the influence over the people that would've been needed to calm them down in the wake of all the recent events; nor could I think of anyone else who could… except for Lacus Clyne." He looked over his shoulder at his guest. "Please understand, Heine, that I didn't undertake this course lightly; while deceiving people is, unfortunately, a fact of life for politicians in a wartime environment, I wouldn't have gone this far if I didn't believe it to be absolutely necessary."

Heine nodded uneasily. _I can see his point,__I think; the level of anger I saw on my way here was more than a little unsettling, and I know _I_ can't think of many people with the pull to calm them down. But still… couldn't he have just…?_

Feeling bold, he voiced the question. "Couldn't you have just asked Clyne to come back, Sir?"

Durandal shook his head. "Until very recently, I had no idea where Miss Clyne was, Heine; as you know, she and her father both disappeared after the War, and the only people likely to have information on her whereabouts -the remnants of True ZAFT- had also largely vanished. Believe me, I would've made the attempt if I could… but it's a bit late for that now."

_Until recently…_ "So, you know where she is _now,_ then," Heine murmured.

"Yes," the Chairman acknowledged. "I do. And that's why I'm letting you in on this matter, because _you're_ likely to meet her soon, as well. It seems she recently arrived at Carpentaria Base aboard the _Archangel…_ and since _Archangel_ is likely to be traveling with _Minerva_ for the foreseeable future, I didn't want you to be unprepared when you came face to face with her."

_So that's it,_ Heine thought. _If I didn't know ahead of time, I'd do something I shouldn't, and ruin the entire thing…_ He shook his head. _I don't know what exactly is going on here, but I think it's over my head. I'm a soldier, not a politician or public relations guy._

"Your Excellency," he said quietly, standing again at last, "there are a lot of questions I have about this, and maybe I should ask them… but I think that's all I really want to know about this. I'm just a pilot; PR and propaganda are outside my purview. I'll accept that I need to keep my mouth shut about this, and leave it at that."

Durandal smiled. "I can understand that, Heine. I think the only pilot I ever met who _did_ involve himself much in these matters is DiFalco himself, and even he stayed away from it when he could." He tilted his head. "I suppose, though, that you still have one question."

Heine nodded. "What's this machine I'm supposed to be using for this role?"

* * *

_Archangel,_ Conference Room, February 29th, C.E. 74

* * *

Murrue shot a sharp look at Rau's image, then directed it at Ken. "Meer Campbell?" she repeated. "Don't I remember you saying something about…?"

"Cousin of Montgomery Campbell," Ken confirmed, his own gaze still locked on the Lacus look-a-like. "One of my Demons, four years ago; he died at Endymion, but he introduced me to his cousin a month before that."

Mu winced; as with Ken, mentions of Endymion tended to bring back very bad memories for him… since, like Ken, he'd lost most of his unit to the Cyclops System. "Rough," he muttered. "Still… what in the world is she doing on worldwide TV, looking like the Pink Princess? You never said anything about _that,_ brother mine."

"_That's because she didn't use to look like that,"_ Rau interjected. _"I met her once myself, some years ago, and she was actually quite ordinary looking. However… her _voice_ was something else entirely. Both her best physical attribute, and the reason she got nowhere in a singing career."_

Cagalli frowned. "I don't get it. With that voice, she must've been a great singer, so why…?" She trailed off, understanding dawning. "Oh. The voice is something they didn't need to change at all, right?"

"Exactly," Ken confirmed, rubbing his eyepatch thoughtfully. "I'd already met Lacus, in the wake of First Jachin; hearing Meer's voice for the first time was a bit startling. The resemblance -as you can hear yourself- is simply uncanny."

Lacus nodded slowly. "And trying to make a career with a voice just like mine…"

"No studio would've found it commercially viable," Athrun agreed; having first been engaged to Lacus in early 71, he knew a fair amount about the PLANTs' music industry. "It would've sounded like they were just copying you."

Even Ken, generally out of touch with popular culture -having devoted much of his life to a single cause- recognized the… lack of commercial viability embodied in Meer Campbell, and felt obscurely sorrow for her. _But not completely,_ he mused. _She was spared the dark side of success… the dangers -and pains- of fame…_

And yet… that still left one question unanswered.

"The_real_ question is," Kira noted, giving rise to the thought they all shared, "is what she's doing on a worldwide broadcast, pretending to be Lacus. I mean, think about it. Why would Durandal…?"

"The only thing I can think of," Lacus said slowly, "is that he decided he needed my voice somehow, and since he couldn't find me… But this is dangerous. It puts her in danger, and it could be used to manipulate the populace; since she owes her current position to Chairman Durandal, she would almost certainly be more willing to do as he says than I would."

Andy nodded, his own thoughts paralleling the singer's. "Considering that we already have suspicions about Durandal, I can see why you'd be concerned. So am I, for that matter; I don't know all that much about the guy, but I do know he was a member of Master Siegel's Council faction, three years ago… at least officially." The brow above his good eye quirked. "Personally, I don't think someone who _really_ followed the Clyne Faction's ideals would be so quick to make use of a fake of the Clyne daughter."

"_Gil was never a true member of the Clyne Faction,"_ Rau said flatly. _"The man found it convenient, but while I still don't remember everything, I'm quite certain it was merely a stepping stone for his real plan."_ He shook his head. _"The current use of Campbell is a bad sign, as far as I'm concerned. He's been planning for years; this may mean he's reaching the endgame… and, perhaps, that we don't want to associate with ZAFT for very long."_

Murrue sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I wish it was that simple," she said quietly. "But I don't think we've got much of a choice, Rau. To begin with, this can't be common knowledge within ZAFT; if it were, the entire world would already know about it, so I think most of ZAFT is still trustworthy. But the main issue?" She shook her head. "There's only so much we can do by ourselves. Section Nine doesn't have the firepower to accomplish everything we need to; for the time being, at least, I see no choice but to grit out teeth and work with ZAFT anyway."

Mu grimaced. "I hate to say it, but… you're right." He leaned back against the bulkhead again. "Lacus, I hate to say it, but I think you're gonna have to stay out of sight when you can… or maybe adopt some kind of disguise. I don't like this, but if this is the only way we stop this insanity…"

"I understand, Mu," Lacus said softly, eyes shadowed. "Like you, I believe this is our only chance of keeping the conflict from escalating out of control, at least until we liberate Orb. However…" She swept her gaze across the others. "We should be alert for the possibility of a betrayal at any moment. Nowhere is safe for us now."

None of them disagreed with the sentiment.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Corridor

* * *

Millenia abruptly stopped, turning to face Dearka. "How much do you know, Dearka? About what happened to me."

"I know you got caught in the fringe of the Cyclops System," Dearka replied, folding his arms. "Mind you, I didn't hear any of this till I came back to ZAFT after the War, but the way I heard it then, you got so badly burned you were more ash than human. At least, that's what I heard; I didn't check any records. I just ran into a guy who made it back from Spit Break, and assumed after that that you couldn't have survived it."

She nodded slowly. "That's what I thought," she murmured. "That's the reaction most people had, when I returned to duty six months before Armory One. But the truth is… Sparky and Tom were still in the PLANTs at the time, and still had a little influence in ZAFT itself. They arranged for me to get certain… experimental treatments." Millenia raised her eyes, meeting Dearka's gaze levelly. "You know what I am, don't you?"

Dearka didn't answer at first, merely looking over the other woman. Once, he'd known her well; she'd been his sister Laura's best friend, up until her death at the Bloody Valentine. Her face and form were burned into his memory, from long years of association, and when he'd first seen her again, he had thought nothing had changed.

Then he'd thought about the burns she must've received. Even if they'd been exaggerated, they would still have been terrible; yet her body showed no trace of them… and so he looked closer, and began to understand the truth.

The body looked the same at first glance… but on closer inspection was more "perfect" than what Millenia had possessed the last time he'd seen her.

"Yeah," he said softly. "That body of yours… it's completely machine, isn't it?"

"Close," Millenia admitted. "I have a synthetic very close to actual blood, to carry the oxygen my brain still needs, and my flesh is essentially a heavily reinforced organic. But yes… all that remains of my original body is my brain and part of my spinal cord."

Unconsciously, she flexed her right hand, remembering the days after she was first awoken from her eighteen-month slumber. Back then, Millenia had found it difficult to even move; advanced as her new body was, neural commands didn't work precisely the same way as with her original flesh. Though it worked equally as well -better, in some ways- it also worked _differently._

_I was afraid I'd never get used to it, back then,_ she thought, gazing down at the lifelike hand. _Even moving around was awkward; certainly I never dreamed I'd be able to return to active duty, let alone reclaim my old skill…_

"So that's how it is," Dearka mused. "Man, it seems like _everybody_ has bad luck around him, sometimes…"

"Not everyone," Millenia disagreed softly, knowing to whom Dearka referred. "The way I hear it, the _Archangel_'s done pretty well with his help." Her eyes narrowed. "Though that does remind me of something: has he ever yet said her name?"

"No," he admitted, looking down at the deck. "Not since that day. Some wounds… just never quite heal, I guess…" He glanced up again. "But then, you know that, don't you?"

She raised an eyebrow at his tone. "Are you implying something, Dearka?"

"Implying? No." Dearka met her gaze levelly. "I'm going to say it straight out: you can't let Alaska go… which is why you tried to kill Commander Le Creuset the other day. Or are you going to deny why you did it?"

Millenia's eyes flashed. _Now he's going to question me, too?_ she thought angrily. _I understand that he's Falcon's best friend, but he was also a member of the Le Creuset team; he should know as well as I do how that man operated… and he was at Second Jachin, where he saw the truth firsthand!_

"No," she said evenly, "I'm not going to deny it, Dearka. I tried to kill him because of that, and I very nearly succeeded… and would have, if Falcon hadn't gotten in the way. But are _you_ going to deny that he needs to die?"

"I'm not going to deny that it's crossed my mind," Dearka admitted, leaning back against the bulkhead. "The first time I saw him at the Clyne Residence, I wanted to kill him… and even now, part of me wants to. I don't pretend to trust him, either… but I _do_ trust Falcon's judgment. Okay, so I think he's crazy to have done this, but he's not stupid. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt… because if he's right, Le Creuset is important."

"Right about _what?"_ Millenia demanded angrily. "I can't get Falcon to tell me _why_ he's sparing the bastard's life, except that he's 'important'!"

Dearka shook his head. "If he didn't tell you, then I won't either, Millenia. You were my sister's best friend, and I like to think you're a friend of mine, too… but the fact is that you tried to kill Le Creuset without even asking for an explanation first. I'd say Falcon has reason not to trust you on this one. And," he added, before her anger could reach an even higher plateau, "I wouldn't recommend making another try at it. Trying to get to him aboard_Archangel_ is more dangerous to you than it is to him… what with Falcon, and his Demons. Even that body of yours isn't going to get through all three of them."

She bit off a harsh retort. She wanted to disagree, to proclaim that nothing would get between her and justice for herself and her fallen comrades… but she knew better than that. Dearka had merely said aloud what she'd already concluded silently: that tough as she was, the loyalty and combined skill of the three surviving Gray Demons was something she couldn't overcome, especially as long as Le Creuset remained aboard the _Archangel._

"…You may have a point there," Millenia admitted through gritted teeth. "But someday-"

Running footsteps brought about a quick end to their conversation, and Lunamaria Hawke came around a bend in the corridor at a dead run.. "Excuse me, Commander, Mister Elsman," she panted, out of breath. "But Commander Carver just relayed a transmission from the Homeland, one which Captain Gladys thinks you should see."

The two senior pilots exchanged a bemused glance. "Uh… me, too?" Dearka said uncertainly; he was, after all, only a visitor aboard_Minerva;_ he was still technically on leave, with his machine currently operating from the _Archangel._

Luna nodded quickly. "Yes, Sir. The Captain heard you were onboard, and sent for both of you. And…" She hesitated. "I don't know the details, but Meyrin said something about Lacus Clyne having turned up in the PLANTs."

If anything, the two were even more baffled than before… though they now understood Luna's haste and confusion, since it was well known to the _Minerva_'s crew that Lacus Clyne was currently aboard the _Archangel._

"Lead on, Luna," Millenia instructed, not yet looking away from the whirling thoughts she saw in Dearka's eyes… matching her own. "Let's see just what's going on."

However, within the dark corners of Millenia's mind, the thought still burned…

_I'll just have to be patient and bide my time, and when I see my chance... Rau Le Creuset will DIE!!!_

* * *

Atlantic Federation, California, Edwards Mobile Weapon Base, Office, March 1st, C.E. 74

* * *

Blue eyes scanned the report from behind a gray mask, and white-gloved fingers unconsciously moved to rub the left eyepiece.

_What a mess,_ Captain Neo Roanoke thought with disgust, reading once more over the damage report from the disastrous Orb operation. _Over_sixty_ mobile suits lost in one engagement, egg on our faces from the Major's little booby trap in Orb itself… and two _Drakes_ and a _Nelson_ -one of the few orbital-bombardment mods- lost to a nuclear bazooka of all things._

He shook his head. No wonder Desai and Bunansa had been executed… and Djibril with them. Bad enough what happened in Break The World and Operation Fatman; this blunder raised the concept of incompetence to heights he'd never before seen in his entire career.

_To top it all off, it looks like Hamilton's pride and joy wasn't quite as good as he boasted, either. Zeta was harried by Freedom and Justice until he had to break off to help Sigma, which got sliced up by the "relic" they were based off in the first place… and then that idiot Goldberg went ahead and incinerated three of our capital ships. Blast it, Hamilton, you faced _Minerva_ in space; you knew how dangerous they were, even without _Archangel_ on hand…_

Neo's own assessment was that they needed either overwhelming firepower, or a cadre of _very_ skilled pilots if such an operation was to actually succeed._Minerva_'s ZAKUs were of little consequence, but the presence of several G-type units -along with the new mass-production model that had ambushed_Ophanim_ and _Thor-_ made the ship a very tough nut to crack.

_We need to either consolidate all _our_ GAT-X models -and the _Archangels-_ and hit them with all of it at once, or we need the most skilled pilots we can possibly find. Harrelson and Houston have both disappeared, but there's still Imelia, Hamilton, and Pike… The Extendeds aren't much good for this, unfortunately, but the fact that ZAFT still wants their machines back intact might work in our favor…_

A knock on the office's door frame interrupted his calculating. "Excuse me, Captain Roanoke," a young lieutenant said politely, "but new orders just came in from Washington. Eyes Only, Sir."

Neo's eyebrows went up behind his mask. "Let's see them, then, Lieutenant."

The younger officer stepped in, setting a disk on the desk, saluted, and quickly departed, no more inclined to stay in the vicinity of someone of such towering seniority than any other junior officer… particularly when said senior officer also wore a mask, and a black uniform unlike that of any other officer in the Earth Forces.

Intrigued, Neo slid the disk into his desktop computer, and leaned back as the screen came to life with the image of a woman he'd met exactly once, in another corner of the world, some years previously… and whose features were unmistakable, resembling her late brother as they did.

"_Captain Roanoke,"_ Selena Azrael began, _"I apologize for not delivering these instructions in person -unlike Djibril, I have a bit more respect for the armed forces- but I'm afraid I'm still busy cleaning up that idiot's mess out here."_ She shrugged. _"At any rate, I think you'll find your new mission an interesting one, particularly after spending the last several months on the sidelines. To make a long story short, your next objective is another attempt at destroying _Archangel_ and _Minerva."

Despite it being a recording, Azrael seemed to sense Neo's instant doubt, for she smiled faintly. _"Yes, I know; about now, you're thinking up all the reasons Djibril's attempt went wrong. Well, believe me, Admiral Sykes and I are taking them all into account, and we believe we've come up with a solution, with Admiral Chernock's assistance. To begin with, _Odin_ seems to have disappeared from Carpentaria; we don't know where she's gone yet, but satellite photos show no sign of her there, which at least removes _one_ positron cannon -and her attendant mobile suits- from the equation."_

Her face vanished, the display switching to a map, showing Carpentaria, an island in the Indian Ocean, and a red line joining the two. _"ONI's analysts have also determined that their likely next move will take them right through the Indian Ocean. Considering that the current 'hotspot' is near Suez, that's a logical conclusion… so we've decided to make sure they never get there at all. Captain, we no longer have much of a naval presence in that region, but we _do_ still have _Ophanim_and_ Thor_ in the area; _Dominion_ is remaining in Orb for the foreseeable future, but I want you to transfer your forces to _Ophanim._ If their units are repaired in time, you'll be joined by Hamilton's team, on _Thor…_ but even if not, Admiral Sykes has assigned _Kyriotite_ to the Third CTAT, and dispatched them to India, as well."_

Neo's eyebrows went up again. _The Third CTAT and _Kyriotite?_ They must be serious about finishing them this time; Willet's unit isn't on they dispatch lightly…_

"_In addition,"_ Azrael went on, _"Willet's team has been equipped with the new 509s… and Admiral Chernock has authorized assignment of three of them to Phantom Pain, as well."_ Her face reappeared, and her gaze was sharp. _"Make no mistake, Captain: we want Section Nine dealt with, and _Minerva_ has also been a thorn in our side too long. Moreover, the war is not going as well as we'd like. We've already lost the Gibraltar region, and while we're still holding in Suez, the arrival of those two ships could shift the balance all too easily. I want them_finished,_ Captain Roanoke, and your Nightwing and Reaver will be instrumental to that plan."_

Her face vanished rather abruptly, replaced by more detailed tactical data, and Neo leaned back in his chair. _Reaver, huh,_ he mused, rubbing his left eyepiece again. _Reaver, and the new GAT-509s… It looks like even _Archangel_ and _Minerva_ are going to have a hard time surviving our next assault._

It looked as though he was finally going to be able to do what both Phantom Pain and _Dominion_ had failed at before, by bringing down _Minerva_ and the "Indestructible _Archangel"…_ but he hoped that, at the least, Preybird could be taken reasonably intact.

_I'll kill him in battle myself, if the alternative is handing him over to Blue Cosmos' tender mercies,_ he thought to himself, _since he deserves better than to be tortured to death… but otherwise, I want to finally see the man who's caused us so much trouble over the years._

Stretching after the long stay behind the desk, Neo came to his feet, reached down, and flipped on his intercom. "This is Captain Roanoke," he said. "Please assemble the Extendeds in Hangar Three, along with the rest of Phantom Pain's pilots. It seems we have a mission in the offing."

* * *

Atlantic Federation, Hereford, England, Third CTAT Headquarters, Hangar

* * *

Before a row of six mobile suits -five of them resembling Dagger designs, while the sixth was distinct unto itself- an equal number of uniformed soldiers stood… or rather lounged, in the cases of five of them. The sixth stood ramrod straight, the very image of discipline, but the others leaned, sat, and sprawled amidst a collection of crates, looking both unprofessional and bored.

Anyone who made the mistake of taking them at face value, however, would meet a swift demise on the battlefield.

"So, what's up, Major?" a muscular, bald man with a mustache asked, his stocky body supported by the pair of ammunition crates on which he leaned. "Don't tell me they've already decided where to go from here? Djibril's only been dead a few days." His accent was lower-class English… but no one who knew him made the mistake of judging his intellect by his voice.

"Don't equate the new people with Djibril, Desai, or Bunansa, Walter," Major Karen Willet advised calmly. "The Director's a sharp one, Admiral Chernock was regarded as one sharp cookie before the Blockade humiliated him, and it looks like Admiral Lincoln's IQ is orders of magnitude beyond Bunansa's."

"Wonder of wonders, a crew that can actually find their backsides without radar and laser guidance," an Irish woman mused; she sat on a storage crate, using another for a footrest and a taller one for back support. "I never thought I'd live to see the day, after the way the officer corps got themselves blown to bits at Second Jachin."

"Mark my words, one of 'em's a Blue Cosmos symp," the tall, lean Scot to her left remarked with a snort. "Lincoln, probably; they don't give the Intel chief slot to just anybody."

"That's neither here nor there," Willet said sharply, cutting short the debate. "If you can think of a way to determine which one -if either- is with Blue Cosmos, avoid having it reduce war-fighting potential, and pull off a hit without leaving proof that it was us, I want a detailed report on my desk tomorrow morning. If not, file it for now, and listen up."

Any other commander, in any other unit, would've assigned severe punishment for the way the pilots were talking; and certainly no other commander would've spoken so casually of assassinating a high-ranking officer of their own military… but the Third Covert Tactical Assault Team was not just any unit, and Karen Willet was not just any commander.

"Understood, Major," the short, tough-looking Welshman at the rear of the group acknowledged. "I'll look into it," he added, with a small smile, "but later. What's going on, Ma'am?"

"New orders, Ioan," Willet replied. "It seems Director Azrael and Admiral Sykes have grown weary of the existence of _Archangel_ and _Minerva,_ so we'll be heading off to India to do something about it, with some assistance from Phantom Pain and Admiral Kimmer's _Archangel_ division."

"India? Hm." The heretofore silent woman to Walter's right, a German émigré, looked thoughtful. "Sounds interesting… if potentially perilous. For one thing, we've never operated out in the open before. Still, might be fun; the last time we had a real challenge was that business during Break The World, when terror cells popped up all over the place."

"And that was a challenge only because of numbers," the Irish woman mused. "This one… well, we've all heard the stories about those pilots. In fact, I'm not really sure we're up to the task, with our usual loadout. I know _you_ could handle it, Major," she added, "but the rest of us…"

"Not to worry, Irene," Willet assured her, a hungry smile appearing on her face. "We've got direct authorization from Admiral Sykes to use the 509s… and I've been _ordered_ to deploy Reaver."

The other two women in the team exchanged surprised looks, and Ioan whistled. Reaver had, so far, been deployed just once, and that had only been to force certain unruly elements into retreat from the failed Orb assault. That time, it had not fought… and its enemies had failed to get a clear view of it.

Willet now turned to stare up at the silent, motionless machine she'd been granted. Like and yet unlike two of the foes it would soon be facing, Reaver's origins were a delightful irony, as far as she was concerned… and its power complimented her own quite nicely.

"We move out in twelve hours," she said over her shoulder. "We'll be taking an air transport across the Channel, and from there_Lafayette_ will ferry us out to India, where another plane will bring us to the new island base. Slow going, I know, but we don't want to reveal our machines before the proper moment. And," she added, a small smile appearing on her face, "if any of you blokes aren't ready by tomorrow morning, I'll tie you into knots and send you the rest of the way in a packing crate!"

The others laughed, as though at an old joke, but even the stocky, powerful Walter knew better than to doubt her words. Karen Willet could throw any one of them across the room with ease… and tie them all into knots, exactly as she threatened.

Not that any of them expected to be lax enough to warrant the punishment in the first place. After all, they were the Frighteners, and the Frighteners were neither lax nor easy prey… for anyone.

* * *

PLANTs, Aprilius One, Defense Base, Hangar, February 28th, C.E. 74

* * *

Heine was becoming increasingly intrigued as he and Durandal traveled deeper into the facility. The lack of gravity didn't surprise him; he'd never been to this particular base before, but ZAFT colony-based facilities tended to be located at a PLANT's hub, where the centrifugal gravity was either weak or nonexistent.

What_did_ get his attention, however, was the number of security checkpoints they'd passed alone the way… and the evidence of areas even more secret than the one they were heading for. He'd caught glimpses of model numbers stenciled on armored hatches, numbers from series that hadn't seen new additions since the Junius Treaty came into play, as well as some series he didn't even recognize.

_I guess mobile suit development is still going strong,_ Heine mused, as they approached one more hatch. _We've got the upper hand at the moment, but it's only a matter of time before the Earth Alliance recovers from the blows they suffered in the first couple weeks of the conflict… and, of course, they've got three of the Second-Stage units, in addition to the "Zeta-series"…_

Nearing what seemed to be the final hatch on the path they were following, Durandal raised his hand in salute, nodding at the pair of armed greencoat soldiers guarding the slab of armor. "He's with me," he informed them, inclining his head toward Heine. "Please, open the hatch."

"Right away, Your Excellency!" the soldier on the left said crisply, snapping a return salute, and nodded to his companion.

Withdrawing ID cards from their pockets, the two nodded once more to each other, then slid the cards simultaneously through their respective readers. Computers within consulted with the base's central computer, comparing the codes on the cards with those on record, and then lights went green… and the hatch groaned open, allowing access into the near-abyss within.

Turning to smile briefly at his companion, Durandal gestured toward the darkness. "Follow me," he invited.

Heine complied, shoving off the floor to drift into the vast chamber, and he tried to take stock of the area while waiting for his eyes to adjust. _A mobile suit hangar, obviously,_ he thought. _A regular armory would be smaller, a harbor a lot bigger… and there'd be no reason to take me to either sort of place. So… what _is_ here?_

His question was answered a moment later, when Durandal keyed the hangar's lights… and as they came up, the hangar's sole occupant came clearly into view.

The first thing that Heine noticed was the head. Rather than possessing the mono-eye sensor of typical ZAFT mass-production designs, this had the two eyes and more human-like face of advanced prototypes, first seen on the Earth Alliance's G-weapons, and later copied by ZAFT's ZGMF-X series. It also possessed a rather taller head-sensor than most, one which reminded Heine strongly of the earlier GAT-X303 Aegis, and ZAFT's own X09A Justice and X11A Regenerate.

That, however, seemed at first the only similarity. Its armament was unlike any of its predecessors, appearing to consist of a variety of cannons, a standard beam rifle, and sabers; though individually less powerful than Aegis' Scylla multiphase energy cannon or Regenerate's hyper-impulse rifle, it actually made the machine overall more heavily armed than either.

_But actually… there _is_ another similarity, isn't there,_ Heine thought, registering the characteristics of the machine's joints. _Like Aegis and Regenerate, this machine is meant to be transformable, and that means…_

"This is ZGMF-X23S Savior," Durandal informed him, gazing up at the unit's impassive face. "As I think you're beginning to surmise, it, too, is part of the Second-Stage series, like Impulse and the unit's the Earth Forces stole from Armory One."

Heine glanced at him. "But why is it here?" he asked. "I thought the Second-Stage series was developed at Armory One, so why wasn't this there when the attack occurred?"

"Design and construction fell behind," Durandal replied with a shrug. "The only other unit of the series this complex was Gaia, and Gaia lacks the heavy weapons Savior carries. Because of that, while it actually was at Armory One that day, it was still in the factory district, only half-complete. Following the attack, it was moved here, to be completed in a more secure location… and then, unfortunately, the resources drained by Break The World, the subsequent relief effort, and preparations for the nuclear attack we knew was coming also delayed completion."  
The pilot nodded thoughtfully. Having seen the chaos that gripped the PLANTs in the months following the ultimatum, he understood how that could've slowed things down; and, though the Chairman hadn't mentioned it, he suspected additional security measures would also have delayed construction. _Come to think of it, Aprilius isn't as convenient to the resource asteroid used by Armory One, either…_

_At any rate, I think I'm beginning to understand what His Excellency has in mind._

Durandal observed Heine's pondering with interest. He didn't know exactly what the young pilot was thinking, but he could make a good guess…, and from what he could tell, things were going exactly as he'd hoped.

_This is how things could've been five years ago,_ Durandal mused. _The Grimaldi Falcon… no, the Demon Lord… he was exceptional. Had he remained with ZAFT, stayed true to his original allegiance long enough for the new prototypes to be developed, he could've been a great force on our side then. As it was, he accomplished the true mission, but had he stayed, he could have been the weapon I need now._

_Instead, he's become Fate's cat's paw, a living paradox in which he somehow manages to be both the creator and destroyer, beginning and end. Creator of GENESIS, and its destroyer… greatest patriot, and greatest traitor…_

That was, in the end, perhaps the greatest difference. Heine was not as skilled as the Demon Lord, but he was an exceptional pilot in his own right; he was also highly intelligent, yet without the strategic mindset that had led DiFalco into mutiny. He could exercise initiative brilliantly without letting it carry him away… and so he was perfect for the role Gilbert Durandal had picked out for him.

"…It looks fast," Heine murmured at length, the somewhat inane remark serving to break the silence.

"It is," Durandal assured him. "Its predecessor, the Proto Savior, was a superb machine -before, unfortunately, being captured- and this unit improves on what that one started. Fast, maneuverable, and heavily armed, it would be a great asset to a FAITH member."

"…" Heine turned his gaze back to Savior's impassive face. _With this… I actually _could_ make a difference in this war. I wouldn't be just another pilot, but one of the driving forces, just as _Archangel_'s group was three years ago… I could help bring this to a conclusion, and along the way help forestall anyone who tries to repeat Patrick Zala's mistakes…_

After another long moment of thought, without removing his gaze from the machine, Heine quietly asked, "When, and where?"

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

Though the Earth Alliance's attack on Orb ended in catastrophe for the aggressors, the defenders have also been wounded, and now require time to rest and recover… and in that time, regain their edge. Stories have been told, with more yet hinted at, as the warriors wait for their weapons to be restored…

Meanwhile, great changes are wrought upon the Earth Alliance and Logos, as two high-ranking admirals and Lord Djibril himself are executed; now Lester Chernock, once humiliated in battle against ZAFT's first mobile suit pilots, returns to the stage… and the shadow of Muruta Azrael takes a new form.

With both sides rallying, another battle cannot be far off…

Yes, I'm back: after two months of nothing, the Solid Shark has returned. Apologies for the long delay, but health issues interrupted me for some time, and kept my output slow for a while after that. But now, I'm mostly recovered, so here I am again.

I realize I would normally be doing another chapter of Brothers in Arms: A Call to Arms about now, but a complete lack of inspiration prompted me to write this instead (though I do intend to return to A Call to Arms shortly). And yes, I realize this chapter was a bit short on action, and maybe even a bit long and rambling, but I hope the revelations in it -especially the first scene- will have made up for that at least slightly. Rest assured, Chapter 16 will be anything but peaceful… as will the next chapter of A Call to Arms.

Lastly, I realize there are a couple of replies I haven't gotten around to yet; I have no excuse, other than hypochondria and difficulties, with all the rest being laziness. I'll see to them soon.

And that, I think, is that for this chapter. Let me know if it was at least mildly interesting. -Solid Shark


	16. Chapter 16: Sea of Blood

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I don't own anything except Ken DiFalco, his subordinates, and Sophia DiFalco

I also do not own the _Odin;_ it is Deathzealot's creation, and the credit is his, not mine

Millenia Crescent does not belong to me either; she is the creation of arekuruu-inabikari-no-She

Also, all references to characters and events from the Equatorial Union Civil War are property of Ominae; for further information, see his story "Rebellion"

* * *

Indian Ocean, Truman Base, Tarmac, March 5th, C.E. 74

* * *

Neo Roanoke felt grateful for his mask as he gazed into the bright afternoon sky, watching the last mobile suit transports arrive. _Bright sunlight… both painful to the unshielded eye and thoroughly ironic, under the circumstances. Given what we're planning, a driving rainstorm might be more appropriate…_

In any case, whatever the weather, he was simply grateful that the final transports were finally coming in. This last group had had the longest journey; Allen Hamilton's people had simply needed to come from Orb, and his own Phantom Pain had had a relatively short flight over from North America, whereas these last arrivals had crossed two entire _continents_ to reach the rendezvous.

With a deafening roar, the massive mobile suit transports touched down on the base's long runways, tires squealing against the concrete as they fought inertia to bring them to a gentle halt… a less than simple task, considering their sheer size and the weight of metal aboard them.

"This must be the most dangerous assembly of firepower we've ever mustered into one place," Commander Allen C. Hamilton remarked at Neo's side, shouting to be heard over engines firing at full reverse. "From a practical standpoint, this dwarfs even the Peacemaker Force for sheer combat effectiveness."

Neo nodded in agreement. Nuclear weapons had long represented the ultimate in firepower, but recent events had relegated them to the dustbin, at least for the time being; and no one would ever say that they were _selective_ destruction. Mobile suits, on the other hand, _were_ selective, yet could also be used for mass destruction under the right circumstances.

And destructive or not, he had to admit the assembly on this small island _was_ impressive. Standing at the edges of the tarmac and visible through opened hangar doors were numerous mobile suits, ranging from basic GAT-02L2 Dagger Ls, GAT-04 Windams, and GAT-01A1 Daggers to the three prototypes of Hamilton's newly-christened Zeta Squadron… and the dark, winged form of Neo's own GAT-X505 Nightwing.

_And, of course, the new 509s,_ Neo thought, glancing at the small group of new models within the Phantom Pain hangar areas… and five of the suits being unloaded from the newly-arrived transports. Somewhat resembling a typical Dagger-line unit, it didn't take long to distinguish between the two. These suits all had integral wings, two sets of three arranged in much the same way as Nightwing, Preybird, or Freedom, with railguns set where Freedom or Nightwing would carry plasma cannons… and on the right arm was a curious shield assembly, consisting of the usual antibeam-coated outer surface, but with a switchblade on the lower edge and beam rifle on the interior surface.

Phantom Pain's models had the addition of a single beam saber, stored on the left hip, and wore the standard black of that unit; by contrast, the weapons loadouts on the machines on the transports was much more varied, and the machines themselves were painted black with bright silver trim.

They were the GAT-509 Strike Katanas, the culmination of Project Zeta. Incorporating much of the same technology as Preybird and the previous units of the X500-series frames, they were hideously expensive, to the extent that, so far, only Phantom Pain and the Third Covert Tactical Assault Team had been equipped with them at all.

_But they're out trump card,_ Neo mused, catching sight of a tall woman exiting one of the transports. _With all the tricks ZAFT and Section Nine have sprung on us lately… and, of course, that new mass-production unit that blitzed _Ophanim_ last month…_

"Hello, gentlemen," the woman greeted, as she walked over to the waiting officers. "My welcoming committee, I suppose?" she added, extending a hand.

"You might say that," Neo agreed, shaking her hand. "I'm Captain Neo Roanoke, with Phantom Pain; we're the other unit with the 509s… and the unit involved in that nasty business at Break The World."

"Nasty business, indeed," she agreed, turning to Hamilton. "Frankly, that alone would've been enough to win my approval for what they did to Djibril, Desai, and Bunansa. I'm Major Karen Willet, by the way," she went on, almost as an aside. "Commander of the Frighteners."

"Commander Allen C. Hamilton, Zeta Squadron," Hamilton replied, shaking Willet's hand in turn. "I've heard of you… vaguely, at least," he amended with a small smile. "They don't say much about what you actually do."

"That's because about half we do is off the record," Willet said, amused, "while the other half is so touchy the brass doesn't even want to think about it. At least, that's the way it's been till now… till we got Reaver and the 509s."

"Something tells me your reputation is going to be spreading soon enough, Major," Neo said dryly, and gestured toward the tall headquarters building, some distance from the tarmac. "Shall we? We've got a lot to discuss, especially considering our targets this time around."

"Agreed," Willet replied, and fell into step with her fellow spec ops commanders.

As they walked, she took stock of the two men. So far, Hamilton appeared to be more polite than she'd expected; everything she'd heard about the man indicated that he had an obsession with duty that scraped the nerves of just about everyone he ran into, from the newest ensign to the most grizzled admiral. _Of course, I've only known him for two minutes, but everything I've heard would suggest he irritates everyone within ten _seconds_ of first meeting… Oh, well. Even if my first impression is off, all I need to is work with him; and considering that nasty business I handled for Azrael, I've worked with worse._

Neo was, in some ways, a complete enigma to Willet. His black uniform was completely unlike any Earth Alliance uniform she'd ever seen, and with the gunmetal gray mask covering the upper half of his face she couldn't even begin to guess what he actually looked like. All she could tell was that he had blonde hair; beyond that, she hadn't the foggiest idea, and the mask also made it difficult to even read the man's facial expressions.

_One thing's for sure, though: the man is very young for his rank. It's hard to tell with that mask on, but he can't be more than twenty or twenty-one. Either he's got close connections to someone in the top brass, or he's very, very good at his job._

For his own part, Neo glanced surreptitiously at the Englishwoman, his observation concealed by his mask, taking stock of her as they neared the HQ. _So this is the CO of the Frighteners, eh? Looks tame enough… but if the stories are true, she's not one to take lightly. Those people are the very definition of flaky spec ops, and the rumors about her personally are enough to give anyone pause._

"By the way," Willet began, as they reached the door to the HQ, "has there been any word from General Müller? Our deployment orders didn't say one way or the other, but considering the import of this operation, I'd think Admiral Chernock would want his people in on this, as well."

Neo shrugged. "I'm told a representative from his battalion arrived just before you did; I didn't see him on the way out here, but he's supposed to be waiting for us inside." He gestured to the door. "Shall we?"

* * *

Truman Base, Headquarters Building

* * *

Willet had to admit that the base was surprisingly well-equipped, considering the haste with which it had been constructed. From what she recalled of internal announcements, construction hadn't even begun until after the ultimatum had been issued to the PLANTs, in late October; with that in mind, the progress here was remarkable.

When she said as much to her companions, Hamilton simply nodded. "This place had top priority for resources," he explained. "What with Orb _and_ Carpentaria being… well, not close, exactly, but within shouting distance, the bigwigs in command figured we needed a new strategic base in the region. Moreover, the Equatorial Union has a history of violence against the Alliance -which makes their signing of the WSTO proposal rather intriguing- so there was plenty of reason to be concerned."

"Concern which appears to have been justified," Neo put in, and guided them to an office door. "Orb is basically in our hands now, but the EU is still a potential wildcard, and of course we took heavy losses against Carpentaria the other day-"

Conversation was abruptly interrupted when Neo opened the door, for the office was already occupied.

Lounging in an office chair, arms pillowing his head and booted feet up on the desk, was a very idiosyncratic individual, wearing Eurasian combat dress, with khaki BDUs and a wide-brimmed hat with one side turned sharply upward. His combat boots were worn and dusty, battered, fingerless gloves protected his hands, and an eyepatch concealed his left eye socket.

Moreover, to Allen Hamilton's disgust, the man was smoking a cigarette, and his dark blonde hair was worn in a long braid trailing down behind the chair, both of which were traits that offended his professionalism.

The man glanced up with a smile. "Ah, you're here," he noted, evincing a French accent. "Captain Luc Bernadotte, ace pilot of the Letzte Bataillon, at your service." He tossed off a casual salute, still not bothering to remove his feet from the desk.

Willet was the first to react, wrinkling her nose with a snort. "The Mutt Brigade," she said contemptuously, prompting surprised looks from her companions.

Bernadotte's remaining eye narrowed. "Hey, hey, show a little respect, mignonette," he advised coolly. "Your government's little trap at Alaska killed a lot of my friends, you know, and my bosses weren't real happy with you. It took a lot of time to build up our forces enough to be useful again… and it took President Copeland a lot of sweet-talking to get us to cooperate at all." It was his turn to snort. "And 'Mutt Brigade'? Mignonette, we're not like our freaky little cousins from before. We're a lot of things, but crazy isn't one of them." His one-eyed gaze fixed on Neo. "And anyway, I seem to recall you still using some of those freaks yourselves, like in that raid of yours last October… and, if I'm not mistaken, on this very base."

Willet's lips drew back involuntarily in disgust. "Freaky little cousins… You know, I've got nothing against Coordinators, but _that_ sort of thing is where I usually draw the line… and a _Frenchman_ of that sort is ten times as bad."

He sighed. "Major, you're taking this whole national rivalry way too far, if you ask me; it's been centuries since Napoleon, all right?"

Willet looked at him as though he were some kind of particularly disgusting insect. "Napoleon? Sorry, but it was more Vichy France and Charles de Gaulle that I was thinking of."

Bernadotte sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Okay, so we've had our share of problems… but even that idiot de Gaulle was two hundred years ago. And, I might add, we graciously refrained from invading England again even during the chaos of the Reconstruction War. So, since we're supposed to be _allies_ here, perhaps you could at least _pretend_ not to hate my guts?"

She opened her mouth to make another caustic remark… but Neo, tiring of the exchange, raised a hand. "Enough," he said sharply, tacitly reminding them that _he_ was the ranking officer present. "Major Willet, I understand your historical rivalry with France, but we have more important concerns. And yes," he added wearily, when she opened her mouth again, "I realize Captain Bernadotte has undergone procedures you disapprove of. That, however, is neither here nor there, and this is not the time or place for these disputes."

Willet gritted her teeth… but nodded, albeit slowly and unwilling, anyway. She had very little respect for the French -several generations of her direct ancestors having fought in wars between England and France- and the revelation of the man's participation in a certain project made her even more wary… but Neo was right.

_Which does not mean that I intend to drop the matter altogether,_ she thought darkly. _It wouldn't be the first time the Frighteners removed someone without official sanction…_

"Thank you," Neo said pleasantly, when he was certain no more outbursts were imminent. "Now, Captain Bernadotte, I believe you have a message for us?"

Bernadotte nodded, and snapped out of the chair and onto his feet in a smooth, blindingly fast motion. "I do indeed, Captain Roanoke. I am afraid that I must pass on General Müller's regrets, for the Letzte Bataillon is unable to participate in this operation."

"Unable?" Hamilton repeated sharply. "I thought your Battalion was finally up to the target force level? With the completion of the Nosferatu program…"

"Our force levels are optimal," the Frenchman confirmed. "Unfortunately, the Drakens aren't ready yet; the final unit was rolled out last week, but they're still undergoing final prep for their individual pilots. As such, General Müller has deemed it… unwise to dispatch any of the Battalion at this time."

Willet -predictably- gave a slightly twisted smile, though whether it was born of contempt or amusement was unclear. Hamilton, on the other hand, merely felt resigned. _This is why I don't count on Eurasians,_ he mused. _Though I suppose there's only so much they can manage, after what my father and the others pulled back at Alaska…_

"I see," Neo said simply, absently rubbing his left eyepiece. "Would I be correct in thinking, however, that you've got just a bit more to say?"

Bernadotte cracked a smile. "Perceptive, Captain, very perceptive. Yes, I have one more message: if you'd like a bit of extra help, and you happen to have a spare mobile suit… I'm at your service for this operation."

* * *

Oceania Union, Australia, Carpentaria Base, Conference Room

* * *

"Well, people," Raquel Carver said, turning from the window now that everyone had arrived, "new orders have finally come through from the Homeland."

Talia Gladys tilted her head, raising an eyebrow. "They've finally finished analyzing our after-action reports, then? It's about time."

Considering that it had been a good nine days since the chaotic escape from Orb, Murrue Ramius had to agree with her counterpart's sentiments. It was true that there had been a lot of data to go over; the revelation of two other "Zeta-series" machines, the use of nuclear weaponry, and the sheer volume of combat data from the attack on Section Nine's headquarters, the assassination attempt on the Clyne family, and the ferocious sea battle certainly represented an enormous amount of information, after all.

But still… nine days was, in her opinion, a bit excessive. They hardly needed to consider the full implications of it before giving instructions to one mobile assault ship. _Well, two,_ Murrue amended, _since we're effectively tied to them for the time being. Still, the point stands._

Raquel nodded. "Yes, they've finally come to a few conclusions; they haven't decided what _all_ of it means, but they've at least sent along a few tentative determinations, as well as new movement orders for _Minerva."_ She walked over to the table, and tapped the folder in front of her unoccupied chair. "First off, it's pretty obvious the Earth Forces have decided you people are a major threat to them. That operation was apparently the work of one Blue Cosmos bigwig and a couple of rogue admirals, but it still shows the threat level they've assigned to you."

Standing near the back wall, Mu La Flaga snorted. "Like that's a surprise? They've been trying to blow the _Archangel_ up ever since Alaska; considering that we're _still_ alive, it's no wonder they're getting frustrated."

The base commander smiled. "They don't call her the 'Indestructible _Archangel'_ for nothing, I guess. But this was probably the largest array of forces they've ever deployed for that purpose. Over sixty mobile suits, an orbital bombardment, two _Archangels,_ and an _Odin…_ Even when you throw _Minerva_ into the target list, that's a _lot_ of firepower for just one operation." She shook her head. "Of course, they _did_ shoot the admirals responsible for it afterward, but still…"

Sitting next to Murrue, Cagalli Yula Athha sighed. "That's true," she said quietly. "But I'm almost more worried by the way they were able to pull it off in the first place. It's true that Unato and Yuna are in the Alliance's pocket now, but… I just can't believe the entire Orb military would just sit by and let the Earth Forces act so freely."

"Chairman Durandal had a personal message for you about that," Raquel said grimly, losing the smile. "Exactly how he got this info, I'm not sure, but he's managed to dig up some very interesting financial data. It looks like the Seirans have been working for the Earth Alliance for at least the past two years… with some evidence suggesting it may go all the way back to the First War. Combine that with evidence of pay-offs to certain Orb commanders, who were recently reassigned to certain key positions…"

Cagalli closed her eyes, slumping back in her chair, and a disgusted sound emanated from the wall to Mu's left. Clad in his typical trench coat, eyepatch firmly in place over his modified eye, and red-lacquered scabbard at his side, Kenneth DiFalco didn't much resemble an experienced pilot and military commander; to the uninformed eye, he looked more as if he were some kind of mysterious swordsman, ready at any moment to cut off someone else's head… but appearances, as everyone in that room knew, could often be deceiving.

The only person in the room whose combat experience equaled his was Mu… and that combat experience -among other things- had left him with a profound distaste for most politicians.

"Well," Ken said now, rubbing his eyepatch, "I suppose that solves at least one problem. I'd guess it the jury deliberations shouldn't take more than an hour, tops, at the end of the treason trial."

"You've got _that_ right," Cagalli muttered wearily. "When I get my hands on those two…" She sighed, then straightened in her chair again. "All right, so now we now how it all went down. And ZAFT Command thinks the policy behind it still holds, even with what they did to the people responsible for _this_ operation?"

"Right," Raquel confirmed. "It's not that much of a surprise, really; hunting down the _Archangel_ has been one of their favorite pastimes over the years, and they've deployed some serious resources to do it in the past. I'm sure you all remember Operation Zantetsuken."

Ken made a face, displaying an unusual expression of self-disgust at the reminder. The trap set by Vice Admiral Castor Truman -from which Lewis Halberton and the _Odin_ had rescued them- had not exactly been his finest hour; it had had the effect of kicking him out of his complacency, but it hadn't been a fun lesson.

"Yes," Murrue said now, "we remember. They used several Q-ships, some kind of EMP weapon, and the Dead Zone effect there, none of which came cheap. I get your point, Commander." She tilted her head. "But do you really think they'll be able to continue to devote such resources to hunting us even in the middle of this war?"

"If you're going to be in the thick of things anyway, then yes, I'd have to say so… which is one reason, I suspect, for the exact nature of the orders we've received." The base commander turned back to the window. "Exactly how much they can devote specifically to your destruction is uncertain; certainly you'll be a priority target, but by the same token, they have to worry about ZAFT forces attacking in _other_ theaters… and this isn't like the days when Truman set his trap. Back then, ZAFT had effectively retreated to the PLANTs, in preparation for the final battle everyone knew was coming, so the Earth Alliance was able to act with greater than usual freedom in other areas."

Talia nodded in comprehension. "And since _we're_ currently on the offensive…"

"Exactly," Raquel said with a nod. "So we're taking the threat seriously, but not jumping at shadows. To wit: in addition to new movement orders, we've received word that an additional mobile suit will be joining _Minerva_ during the journey."

_Minerva_'s captain blinked. "A new mobile suit? What model? And who's the pilot?"

"The model is one I've never heard of," the other woman admitted. "Some kind of new prototype, apparently; something that managed to avoid involvement in that business at Armory One. As to the pilot… You ever hear of Heine Westenfluss?"

Mu leaned back against the wall. "ZAFT redcoat, I think," he mused, thinking back. "He was at Jachin… Oh, yeah." He grinned. "Might be just as well _Odin_'s busy right now. Westenfluss had a nasty run in with Morgan and Alicia, back at Jachin… So, he's still around?"

"Evidently; and he's apparently the first member of a new organization called 'FAITH': the Fast-Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters." Raquel shrugged. "Some kind of special unit reporting directly to the Chairman, bypassing the usual chain of command in pursuit of greater tactical flexibility."

Ken's face abruptly went blank, hearing that description. _Reporting directly to the Chairman… and with advanced prototypes at their command, piloted by aces like Westenfluss? …I don't like this. That sounds too much like a "Praetorian Guard" for my liking. All right, on the face of it the idea sounds good, especially for situations where you just can't afford to take the time to consult with higher authority, but considering the concerns we have about Durandal…_

Oblivious to her fiancé's thoughts, Murrue was nodding thoughtfully. "Well, that won't hurt; we can use all the mobile suits we can get, these days, even with the extra Fianna Headquarters is sending down here in a couple days." She looked up at Raquel again. "Well, with that out of the way, what are the orders, Commander?"

In answer, Raquel walked over to the east wall, tapped a control panel set there, and brought a large display to life, depicting a world map. "Well, with your forces bolstering our own, Command has decided to send you to the Middle East. Forces stationed in Suez have been trying to break out into Eurasia, but they're obstructed by a heavily-fortified Alliance base… one which guards the only practical pass with a Lohengrin."

"They put a _positron cannon_ in place as a theater-defense weapon?" Kira Yamato, heretofore silent, said incredulously. "Are they out of their minds?"

"Environmentally, probably," she replied dryly. "Strategically, though, it's been working very well, which is why _Minerva_ and _Archangel_ are being sent to help out Suez. Should be 'old home week' for you guys, though."

"Yeah, you might say that." Andrew Waltfeld, also silent up to now, shook his head wryly. "It'll be like going home again… and we might even get some extra help, if some of the old resistance groups are still active. Well," he amended, "active and willing to overlook a few past actions on ZAFT's part. Cagalli?"

"…Ordinarily, I don't think the Desert Dawn would help us," Cagalli said slowly, remembering her old friends Sahib Ashman and Ahmed al-Fazi. "They've got long memories, and they fought some bitter battles against ZAFT during the War. But… if the Earth Forces are using a Lohengrin there, then they might make an exception. For all that Commodore Waltfeld burned down Tassel, at least he didn't irradiate the entire area."

Andy looked only slightly abashed; he was willing to acknowledge that he might have gone _slightly_ overboard with that action, but the fact remained he'd been fighting a war… and that, even then, he'd made sure the town was evacuated before torching it.

"Well, then, that's another possible advantage," Raquel said with a nod. "In any case, you're not being sent out alone. We don't expect trouble along the way, but there's still a possibility of it, so you'll be accompanied by two _Vosgulovs_ and our captured _Spengler_ during the journey across the Indian Ocean. Considering the importance of your ships and their mission, the _Vosgulovs_ will be carrying BABIs; the _Spengler_ can only accommodate flightless machines, but they'll be ZAKUs, not GuAIZs or GINNs. Oh," she added, "and we're also providing _Minerva_ with several Guuls."

"Guuls?" Talia's eyebrows went up, and she nodded appreciatively. "That'll increase our tactical flexibility; Rey and Luna didn't have much impact on the last battle, because they were confined to _Minerva_'s deck. I'm sure they'll both be delighted… as am I. Thank you, Commander."

The Guuls would, indeed, greatly expand their options. Normally, even Rey Za Burrel's ZAKU Phantom would be little more than a glorified gun turret in a gravity well, but the subflight platforms would provide even that and Luna Hawke's ZAKU a reasonable degree of maneuverability… which might well prove critical in the coming battles.

"You know," Cagalli murmured, almost to herself, "I might be able to call in a little more support, too."

Talia glanced over at her. "Commodore Athha?"

"I know a couple of mercenaries who might help," Cagalli explained. "A brother and sister team, from Orb. Their parents weren't nobility, but they _were_ business magnates, heavily involved in Orb's arms industry, so they went to the same high school I attended. They dropped out, though, and left the country after their parents were killed in a Blue Cosmos bombing; they joined up with Serpent Tail shortly after the War started, and were involved at Nova and a few other places."

_Minerva_'s captain frowned. "Then wouldn't they be more likely to fight for the Earth Forces…?"

"Not really," Ken put in. "I met their boss, Gai Murakumo, when we were preparing to set up shop at Mendel. Mercs like them work for whoever pays for them, though I'd guess this particular pair would never work directly for Blue Cosmos."

"Right," Cagalli agreed. "They're also freelance, these days… and they might just be willing to do a favor for an old friend. They're also very good pilots," she added.

"Okay, that's another thing to keep in mind," Raquel said, nodding once more. "And if anybody has any other ideas, now would be a good time; it'll be over a week yet before your ships are ready to deploy, so let's put our heads together and see how we can make these deployment orders work even better, shall we?"

"Good idea," Murrue agreed, and stood up. Walking over to the map display, she went on, "We -the _Archangel,_ I mean- learned a few things from our battles in Libya and the Indian Ocean, so first, I'd suggest we-"

* * *

Carpentaria Base, Tarmac, March 15th, C.E. 74

* * *

Shinn Asuka's blade snapped up, interposing itself between his throat and the enemy just in time for his opponent's blade catch its tip; the redirected momentum sent the opposing blade flashing over his head, and Shinn took advantage of the momentary opening to drive forward, pulling his sword down to mid-torso level and thrusting forward in a vicious stab.

His opponent reacted even faster than he'd expected, his blade coming down in a flashing arc than crashed into the spine of Shinn's weapon, forcing down and to one side; a quick twist of the other man's wrists, and it whistled up again, in a brutal slash that would open him from hip to shoulder.

Shinn responded by spinning away, accepting the momentary risk to his back as the price of quick recovery from his own failed attack. His opponent's katana missed by a millimeter, almost tearing open the back of his shirt, but then he was facing him again, his blade slicing through the air in a beheading cut-

The other man altered own grip with blinding speed, reversing his left hand and using it to shove his sword's hilt sideways, into the path of Shinn's stroke, while simultaneously ducking his head; Shinn's blade, deflected by the impact of the other's hilt, hit nothing but air, and the man continued his downward motion, falling onto his back.

Shinn immediately flipped his own weapon, swapping end for end, and drove it down toward his opponent's prone body… at which point the man rolled into a backward somersault, with Shinn's blade hitting the hard ground, and came out of it with knees bent. Pushing off hard, the man catapulted over Shinn's kneeling form, landing behind him.

Before Shinn could recover and turn, his opponent's leg scythed through his, dropping him to the ground with a grunt… and a bare instant later, he found himself looking a sword tip pointed directly at his throat.

The man let him lie there like that for several moments, long enough to firmly establish Shinn's defeat… and then Ken pulled the wooden practice blade away, thrusting it through his belt, and extended a hand to the youth.

"Not too shabby, Shinn," he remarked. "For a beginner, anyway."

Shinn winced at the qualifier, but allowed Ken to pull him to his feet anyway. It was, after all, the truth: had that been a real battle, he would be lying dead on the training mat, and Ken would only be slightly winded… if that.

"It's a lot different from fighting in a mobile suit," he commented now; not as an excuse, but a partial explanation. "There's a lot more flexibility here, and I think that's throwing me off."

"It is indeed," Ken agreed. "No operating system yet devised can grant a pilot the sort of fine movement control that is taken for granted in any form of sword style. That makes it a great deal more complicated… and is why it takes many years to truly master the blade."

Shinn nodded, still breathing heavily, and stuck his own practice blade into his belt with one hand while wiping sweat from his forehead with the other. He'd known going in that it would be different from anything he'd ever attempted… but that didn't stop him from throwing his all into the effort.

In point of fact, Ken had been surprised when Shinn asked him to give him some lessons in the blade. Pointers on piloting he could well understand, since Shinn _was_ a ZAFT pilot assigned to their newest machine aboard their newest warship, and would doubtless be thrown into the very thickest of the War. Considering that Ken had once been one of ZAFT's top aces himself -and the obvious fact that Shinn looked up to him- that seemed quite logical to him.

For Shinn to want to learn the Ganryu School, though, was _most_ unexpected. Most pilots seldom bothered to learn ground combat skills at all -outside of his own Demons and Millenia Crescent, the only exception he knew of was Athrun Zala- and the few who did usually trained with firearms. Martial arts had their place on the battlefield as well, of course, as there was always the possibility of being shot down and finding oneself with limited to no pistol ammunition, but the blade… That was archaic, to put it charitably.

Partly, Ken suspected, it was because he himself was a swordsman; he wasn't sure Shinn could _quite_ be said to have a case of hero worship toward the elder pilot, but it was obvious Shinn did consider him something of a role model.

It was a fact Ken was quite willing to take shameless advantage of. In Shinn he saw the makings of an extraordinary pilot… if his emotions could be better kept in check.

"Well," Shinn said presently, when he'd recovered some of his breath, "at least it doesn't take that long to master it well enough to use it practically."

"True," Ken agreed, crossing his arms in a pose Kira Yamato would've recognized instantly. "I wouldn't care to enter you into a tournament any time soon, but considering how few people actually bother to learn the art of the blade these days, you could easily take the average soldier apart with that thing. Of course," he admitted, "the primary lesson to learn in that regard is simply how not to cut your own arm off, but you do show promise, Shinn."

Shinn contemplated snorting; he wasn't sure just how much of a compliment that was, particularly since he knew perfectly well Ken would've sliced him in half an instant into the battle had it been a serious match. _But… Ah, forget it. There are worse accolades than being told you have promise by one of the two or three best swordsmen around._

"So, you knew this even before you joined ZAFT?" he remarked, half-collapsing onto the tarmac; unlike Ken -who wore his trademark trench coat even in the heat of the Australian day- he'd doffed his red coat, choosing shirtsleeves for both added ventilation and greater mobility.

"Right," Ken acknowledged; predictably, he wasn't even breathing hard, and so chose to remain in his "lecture" posture. "I began studying the martial arts when I was about six, and met Master Sasaki two years after that, so yes, I would've been a student of the blade for a good six years before I entered ZAFT." He grimaced. "Not, unfortunately, long enough to make me as skilled as I might've liked by the time I was assigned to the Grimaldi Front. Victor came entirely too close to killing me."

Shinn nodded thoughtfully. He'd heard about that incident. In fact, it was required study at the Academy, under the topic "Mutiny"… as was another, lesser-known -and far more controversial- action Ken had taken during the First Battle of Jachin Due.

That study, though, was just of dry fact: that Victor Tempest, alias Huckebein the Raven, had engaged in a reckless, headlong charge at the enemy during one of the Grimaldi battles, requiring the Grimaldi Falcon to lead the rest of the Gray Demons after him. Considering the strength of the defenses they were rushing directly at, it had nearly gotten the entire team killed, and _had_ severely injured one member, who subsequently vanished from ZAFT entirely.

After that, it was unsurprising that Ken, furious, had requested that Tempest be transferred -despite their long-standing friendship- and that the transfer had been instantly approved. The surprising part came when Tempest subsequently tried to assassinate his own friend and commander, and that was something which the official record did not comment on.

Nor, for that matter, did it comment on the rumors that Tempest, then going solely by the name Huckebein, had later returned to ZAFT service somehow, expressly assigned to terminate the rogue Ken DiFalco.

"…What_ did_ happen back there, Major?" Shinn asked carefully, looking up at the older pilot. "Back at the Eyrie?"

Ken was silent for a long, long moment, leading the obsidian-haired pilot to wonder if he should've just kept his mouth shut. Memories flickered before the Demon Lord's mind's eye, recalling his furious argument -with Tempest and, before that, with the vanished Demon- and the brief, ferocious duel which followed it. Recalling the moment he realized, when trying to protect the _Archangel_ and the forces sent ahead from the Eighth Fleet, that Victor had somehow survived… recalling his final encounter with his onetime friend and student, when Victor blinded him, when he finally ended the Raven's tortured existence… and when he finally learned the truth behind truths.

"It's… a complicated story," Ken said at last, his voice as distant as his mind. "The beginnings of it actually go back some twenty years, and are still classified for what I assure you are very good reasons. But the simple fact of the matter is that Victor Tempest was… mentally unstable." He didn't like admitting that about a friend even now, but he did so without flinching. "I had known it for a long time, but I chose to befriend him and teach what I could of the Art anyway, and it was very nearly my undoing… multiple times."

The ace rubbed his eyepatch in thought. "That instability is what led him to launch his solo attack against Tycho Base. Admittedly, even now I'm not entirely sure of his motives, but since he _did_ have a death wish, I presume that was involved. Either way, he lost control, took off on his own, and I had to either let him die or take the whole team in after him. I chose the latter course… and even now, I'm not sure it was the right one."

Shinn blinked. The very concept was anathema to him; the primary reason he himself had joined ZAFT was to protect others, _including_ his comrades. The idea of just leaving one of them to die, no matter the circumstances… _That's just not right,_ he thought. _If you're a team, you're a team. You don't just let one of your own die without even _trying_ to help him! And didn't one of the Major's own maxims…?_

"But, Major," he protested, frowning, "didn't you yourself say, 'Leave no one behind, never abandon your own'? You couldn't just leave Tempest to take on those kinds of odds _alone…"_

"I remember Lesson Seven perfectly well, Shinn," Ken assured him, lips twitching as he remembered the incident that had led to him spouting the aphorism in the first place. "As a matter of fact, it was probably the deciding factor in my decision to go after him. But consider: given the heavy defenses of Tycho Base, it's a miracle _any_ of us came home alive. As it was, one of my people, the one I'd served with the longest, was badly injured, and actually deserted the moment he could walk; and in the aftermath, I was left with the task of _personally_ killing Victor." He shook his head. "Lesson Forty-six: Doing the right thing at the time sometimes means you have to do the wrong thing later. Had Victor died at Tycho, he would've been remembered as a courageous maverick, not a mutineer."

Even as he spoke, his thoughts flashed back to a time before Endymion, remembering the events he now related to Shinn.

"_Are you out of your mind, Falcon?! You know what Victor did back there; it could've gotten us all killed, and it almost _did_ kill _me!_ How can you just sit there and do _nothing?!"

"_I'm not doing 'nothing'. I've already gotten confirmation on the transfer order. He'll be out of here before the next operation… and, in all probability, out of uniform shortly after that." A pause. "I don't like doing that, but friend or not-"_

"_Transfer? _Transfer?!_ Ha! Even getting him cashiered isn't enough for what _he_ did, Falcon! You should've killed him and had done with it! You see my face, Falcon? You see this? It's because of that maniac! And you won't even-?!"_

_A moment of deathly silence. Then, "I'm not in the habit of killing my own men. Even for something like this."_

"_Oh, yeah? What about Dix, huh? I don't remember you showing any hesitation back there!"_

"_Dix is half the reason I _didn't_ execute Victor. That was a very different situation… and if you'll recall, that action brought me entirely too close to being executed myself by the Board of Inquiry!"_

Shinn, oblivious to the ace's reminiscing, was frowning again, thinking hard about Ken's words. He'd never thought of it that way before; as far as he was concerned, allies were allies and enemies were enemies, and that was that. While he was willing to concede things weren't always _quite_ that simple -else Ken would never have had to desert ZAFT in the first place- the situation revolving around Victor Tempest on the Grimaldi Front was something else entirely.

_Something important,_ he told himself. _But… it'll take time to think about. For now…_

"What happened after that, Major?" he asked intently. "The rumors about Tempest coming back…?"

Ken, pulled back to the here-and-now by the question, allowed himself a small, brief grimace. "The rumors are, unfortunately, correct," he said grimly. "I'm afraid the ending to that story is something you don't have the need to know for, but yes, Victor _was_ brought back -in a similar fashion to Rau Le Creuset, incidentally- and yes, Patrick did so essentially for the sole purpose of eliminating me. One of the many… questionable decisions he made after the Bloody Valentine. Although," he granted, eye taking on the faraway look again, "I do have to admit that, in the end, it provided me with some very valuable information…"

Exactly what that information was, Shinn would've loved to ask; some of the older pilot's statements had made him vaguely uneasy, which, coupled with how… murky many of the events late in the War remained, meant having some of the mystery cleared up would've been at least mildly reassuring.

Whether or not Ken would've _answered_ the question was, itself, a question, considering his notorious secretiveness, but personal hero or not, Shinn had more than enough self-confidence to ask outright… had he the chance.

Before he could do more than open his mouth, however, another voice preempted his. "There you are, Falcon," Millenia Crescent called, striding across the tarmac toward them. "I've been looking for you."

Ken turned, face slipping back into his usual mask of impassivity; ever since the revelation of Rau's survival the night they escaped Orb, he'd been less than entirely comfortable around her… and to judge from the barely-discernable tightness in her own manner, the feeling was very much mutual.

"Something up, Millenia?" he asked, leaving unvoiced any mention of their disagreement.

"You could say that," Millenia confirmed, after an indecipherable glance at Shinn's practice sword.

"Partly from Captain Ramius -which is why I came looking for you in the first place- and partly from Commander Carver. News on two fronts, Sensei." She paused to nod at the pair of mobile assault ships still being worked on at the docks, over a week after their arrival at the base. "First of all, we've got final confirmation on our movement orders."

Ken rubbed his eyepatch in thought. "A date's been set for our deployment, then?" he said interestedly. "Good," he went on, after she nodded. "The time we've had to repair and recuperate has been nice, but I do think it's about time we got moving again. The Earth Forces aren't going to just wait around, and I don't want us getting too complacent."

"Not much chance of _that_ happening," Millenia replied, a little tartly, "with you and the Desert Tiger running everyone ragged… in simulations _and_ out." Her expression turned abruptly serious. "Which brings me to my other piece of news. We've lost the _Von Braun."_

Shinn drew in a sharp breath. "The Earth Forces have made a move in space?" he guessed; he didn't know the _Werner von Braun, _but he did know she was a _Laurasia_-class, and even the old frigates didn't go down _that_ easily.

And the idea of a move being made in space while he and _Minerva_ were still stuck in dry dock put a sudden chill in Shinn's heart, born of tension and the realization he could do nothing to protect those beyond gravity's grip.

To his surprise, though, Millenia shook her head. "No. Fact is, there's no sensor data, even from distress signals; the ship just seemed to fall into a hole in space, with debris appearing as suddenly as the ship disappeared about an hour later. And that lack of data tells Command it probably wasn't the Earth Forces… especially combined with _Von Braun_'s cargo."

"Cargo?" Ken repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"_Von Braun_'s been assigned to R&D for the past year," Millenia explained. "She was en route from Armory One back to the Homeland with a METEOR unit when contact was lost; part of a new project attempting to adapt METEORs for use with mass-production mobile suits. Not really of much interest to the Earth Forces, since the basic technology isn't exactly new. So…"

The ace closed his eye. "_Queen Anne's Revenge,"_ he said flatly.

"Probably," she agreed. "Definitely their _modus operandi,_ anyway, and I don't know of any _other_ group that could've pulled it off."

"Wait a minute," Shinn protested, confused. "How can a ship just disappear like that? And what's '_Queen Anne's Revenge'?_"

"_Queen Anne's Revenge_ is a pirate ship, Shinn," Ken said quietly, turning to the younger pilot. "She used to be the _Spartacus,_ an Earth Forces _Agamemnon_-class. Back in early 72, though, the Yggdrasil Pirates captured her, and named her after the most infamous pirate ship to sail the oceans. Since then, she's been quite a holy terror, though they normally avoid military shipping." He allowed himself a small grimace. "And she's been effectively impossible to pin down, because _Spartacus_ happened to be one of the first ships built to replace the jamming ships lost with Fourth Fleet at Second Jachin."

"Oh." Shinn winced. "Dead Zone."

"Exactly. And what the Yggdrasil Pirates might do with a METEOR unit…" Ken shook his head. "I do, however, begin to understand our expedited schedule. The sooner we take our the Lohengrin Gate, the sooner ZAFT can free up some resources to track down the _Revenge."_

"Right," Millenia confirmed. "The _Revenge_ may seem like a minor issue compared to the Earth Alliance, but I think the loss of the _Von Braun_ was the last straw; Command is getting worried that the Earth Forces will try taking advantage of the situation somehow. Orders have come through for Carpentaria to draw as much resources away from their own repairs as necessary to finish _our_ repairs. They've decided the risk of another attack on the base is less than the need to get us moving." She gestured with her chin toward the HQ building. "Deployment briefing in ten minutes, Falcon… and we deploy in five days from right now."

* * *

Carpentaria Base, Docks, March 19th, C.E. 74

* * *

"Is it always this way, Murrue?" Talia asked, gazing up at the now mostly-repaired bulk of the _Minerva._ "You fight one battle, head to port for repair and re-supply, and then head right back out again?"

"Pretty much, Talia," Murrue admitted; by now, a day before they were to depart once more, the two captains were on a first-name basis. "Although," she added thoughtfully, "you and _Minerva_ actually have it luckier than we did, when we made our first trip across the globe. Back then, we were one ship, on the run, without an allied port for over three months. Compared to that, this stay at Carpentaria has been a vacation."

"Yes, I suppose it would be."

Talia herself wasn't exactly a veteran. She'd been in ZAFT for the last six months of the First War, but she'd been stationed at PLANT Defense HQ, in Aprilius One; the exigencies of being out in the field were new to her… though she was catching on quickly, after several skirmishes and one outright pitched battle.

_One thing I _do_ know about, though,_ she thought, turning her gaze toward the now-pristine hull of the white vessel once called the "Legged Ship" by ZAFT, _and that's politics… and intrigue. And several things about this trip promise too much of both._

"Murrue," Talia said quietly, turning to look directly at her fellow captain, "there's something I need to talk to you about."

Murrue looked at her sidelong. "We mostly settled the issue about Rau before we even got here… so you're talking about Lacus, right?"

"Right," Talia confirmed levelly. "You and I both saw that broadcast last week. Yet both Miss Lacus and her father are supposed to be on _your_ ship at the moment." She tilted her head. "Far be from me to accuse anyone of lying… but one of them has to be the real thing." She had a suspicion about which person it might be, but it was _only_ a suspicion… and not one she wanted to believe.

"The real Lacus Clyne is the one aboard my ship, Talia," Murrue said calmly, without hesitation. She had discussed this matter beforehand with Ken, Athrun, Siegel, and Lacus herself, and they'd decided, albeit with reservations, the way this would have to be handled. "As you no doubt know, she and her father were both on the _Eternal_ for the last few months of the War, so I assure you that I know I'm dealing with the real thing."

Talia sighed. "I thought so," she admitted. "Especially when I remembered that former Chairman Clyne was also supposed to be aboard. If the Lacus in the PLANTs were the real one, he'd no doubt be there as well, and publicly." She didn't like admitting that; for several reasons -most of which she preferred not to admit even to Murrue- she didn't want to think Gilbert Durandal was up to anything at all duplicitous. "But in that case… who _is_ the one in the PLANTs?"

"Ken believes she's a young woman named Meer Campbell," the other woman replied with a shrug. "I wouldn't know; the only time I've been in the PLANTs at all for any length of time was just after the War, and that was for business. But Campbell's cousin was one of the original Gray Demons, and Rau backs up the ID, so I'm not prepared to disagree with them." She shot a shrewd glance at the ZAFT captain. "I'm also not prepared to speculate on just why Chairman Durandal might've resorted to this tactic."

Murrue paused then, waiting for Talia's response. She wasn't certain, but things Ken and Kira had told her about the voyage from Armory One had birthed a tiny suspicion in her mind, a suspicion that, just perhaps, Talia knew Durandal rather better than a "mere" ZAFT captain would be expected to. As such, her next words could be very interesting indeed.

"…I don't think the Chairman knows where the real Miss Lacus is," Talia said, after a long pause. "I didn't mention it in my report -that's more your business than ours- and I'm fairly sure he didn't know before we left Orb. And under the current circumstances, he may well have felt that the only one whose voice could convince the PLANTs' citizens not to act rashly was Lacus Clyne; in which case, he presumably decided he had no choice but to use a double."

"That's quite a liberty to take, Talia," Murrue said quietly, meeting Talia's gaze levelly. "He's putting Lacus' name and reputation on the line without even asking her; if something goes wrong, she'll end up blamed for something she had nothing to do with. But," she added, raising a hand to preempt Talia's response, "we won't challenge that now. We're in the middle of a war, and Chairman Durandal isn't here for us to ask. I've talked it over with Lacus and the others, and we've decided to let it slide for now. We'll deal with the matter when we can see the Chairman personally."

Talia let out a barely-audible sigh of relief. _That's good,_ she thought. _We don't need that kind of disagreement now. Not when we're about to head right into the European Theater. At the moment, Section Nine's assistance is critical._

"So, there's nothing to interfere with our scheduled launch, then?" she said aloud.

"Right," Murrue confirmed, turning back to the docked ships. "Chief Murdoch and your Aves agree that everything will be ready by tomorrow afternoon, as scheduled." She closed her eyes. "And, according to our latest intelligence data, there shouldn't be any problems on the way to Suez; the Equatorial Union is the closest 'Alliance' nation to our course, and despite public appearances they're staunch supporters of Section Nine."

"So we can use the time to work up again," Talia said thoughtfully. "A few drills along the way won't hurt. Maybe a few simulations of land warfare? So far, _Minerva_'s combat experience has been exclusively in space, except for one battle over the ocean, so we should probably start familiarizing ourselves with the conditions involved."

"Especially if we end up in desert warfare," Murrue agreed wryly, remembering _Archangel_'s first -and nearly disastrous- experience with the unique conditions of desert combat. "We can give you a few pointers on that." She paused. "Oh… and Talia? Since we'll have the time, there's a favor I'd like to ask you…"

* * *

Minnerva, Millenia Crescent's Private Quarters

* * *

…_Hey, Millenia can you keep a secret?..._

…_Of course, Laura, it's not about Ken is it?..._

…_No! No, its just I want to share with you this dream of mine…._

…_Really?..._

…_Yeah, its one of the reasons why I joined ZAFT in the first place…._

…_and here I thought Falcon was your only reason, so why are you telling me this?…._

…_because I need your help to make it happen…_

…_Tell me what it is first…_

…_I want to live in a kind world…._

"Laura…" whispered Millenia as she opened her eyes, awakening from her 'sleep'.

Easily sitting up, she looked at her monitor by her bed and saw the gathered data from the analysis made during her 'sleep'. Like clockwork, Millenia sent the data to her friend, who was responsible for her body's maintenance and upgrades. Millenia couldn't help but mentally frown at her recurring dreams as of late, ever since her confrontation with Rau.

One small part of her still human mind, wondered if she was slowly going insane from the guilt of her sins, or from feeling trapped like a ghost in a perfect shell. Still, Millenia banished those worrying thoughts away, as those dreams helped her refocus and reprioritize herself. Vengeance against Rau would have to wait… for now.

The violet haired commander stood up from her bed and walked across her Spartan room, unmindful of her nude state to dress in her uniform.

_Less than twenty-fours left before we head out, _Millenia thought to herself as she put the finishing touches to her uniform and headed towards the door.

However, she hesitated to leave and went to the small dresser by her 'bed'; opening its drawer, Millenia gazed silently at the picture frame that she had not shown to Ken in his early visit to her room.

The picture showed a young Millenia together with a young Laura both caught in a pose giving flying kisses to a clearly flustered and embarrassed Ken with their friends cheering, whistling, catcalling, and/or laughing in the background. It was one of the happiest and most treasured moments in her life.

Millenia looked at it silently for a couple more minutes before putting it back again inside the dresser and exited her private quarters.

"I will break this cycle, Laura, and create the world you want…" promised Millenia, "…whatever it takes to make your dream into reality…"

_I will be the bringer of death to my enemies… even if that enemy is you… Ken……_

* * *

Truman Base, Headquarters Building, Special Operations Command Center

* * *

"…I see, understood. Thank you." Neo closed down the intercom link, leaned back in the desk chair, and looked over at his fellow special operations troops. "Well, it's official," he announced. "Com Center just relayed a message from Heavens Base: according to R, the combined ZAFT/Section Nine force will be departing Carpentaria Base tomorrow afternoon."

Willet and Bernadotte exchanged a rare, shared expression: one of puzzlement. "'R'?" the Englishwoman questioned.

"Our agent within Section Nine," Hamilton explained, casting a disapproving glance at Bernadotte's perpetual cigarette as he spoke. "Even I don't know who he is; only the brass do. But his -or her, I suppose- information had always been reliable." He shrugged. "Anyway, does it matter who R is? At least now we can _do_ something, instead of this endless waiting."

"Tell me about it, comrade," Bernadotte said sourly, leaning back against one wall. "After the Nosferatu training, I thought dull would be good. Two weeks of dull has changed my mind."

Not even Willet disagreed with him there. Neo had been on standby since Break The World, five months before, and Hamilton's entire squadron now had something of a score to settle with both factions they would be fighting. And as for Willet herself, there was nothing she and her team craved more than a challenge… something which had been sorely lacking for them ever since the First War ended.

And this time, they would be going in with the advantage of complete surprise -Truman Base still being completely unknown to the enemy- and every single technological trick the Earth Alliance could bring to bear. Some of them had been encountered by Section Nine before, and others by ZAFT, but never in a situation quite like this one… and _none_ of them had encountered a few of the new developments that R&D had devised.

"Same assets as in our original brief?" Hamilton asked, getting down to business.

"Yes," Neo answered with a nod. "Everything we've got on hand is going into this operation; even with their nuclear-powered machines, the ZAFT/S9 alliance should be flattened quite nicely." He stood.

"Captain Hamilton, Major Willet, brief your teams immediately. Captain Bernadotte, make sure that Katana of yours is properly calibrated; with your… unique status, I want no mistakes. I've got to set the Fleet in motion." He gestured sharply with one hand. "We leave in eighteen hours."

* * *

Gulf of Carpentaria, SNS _Archangel,_ Bridge, March 20th, C.E. 74

* * *

Three weeks after arriving at Carpentaria Base, the _Archangel_ was pulling out once again, hale and robust after extensive repairs.

"It's nice to be leaving without stealth or haste, for a change," Murrue remarked from the center seat, glancing at the brown-haired youth on the bridge's forward catwalk. "I think the last time that happened was when we left the Eyrie before Second Jachin… for that matter," she added thoughtfully, "I think that was the _only_ other time."

"You may be right," Kira agreed quietly, his right arm wrapped lightly around Cagalli's waist. "Heliopolis and Artemis were both going to pieces, we were trying to avoid Athrun on the way out of Orb, and we were under direct enemy attack at Alaska, Kaguya, and Mendel… Well, we did leave Africa without too much trouble, too, but I see what you mean."

"War seldom gives soldiers the chance to take things easy," Athrun Zala said sagely, standing with Lacus on the other side of the catwalk. "Especially one on this scale. But," he went on, glancing back at Murrue with a small smile, "things do occasionally work out for the better. Congratulations, by the way."

Murrue saw his gaze was on the gold band on her left ring finger, and she smiled -with a tinge of a blush- herself. "Thank you, Athrun."

For his part, whether or not Ken was even slightly embarrassed was difficult to say; Athrun, however, had known the ace long enough to recognize the way he suddenly became even more expressionless than usual, and he grinned at his friend and former enemy. "Still getting used to married life, Falcon?"

"Just imagining how you'll look when _you_ finally give it a try," Ken shot back evenly.

Athrun suddenly looked more thoughtful, provoking a giggle from Lacus.

The marriage of Ken DiFalco and Murrue Ramius had been something of a rushed affair, considering the wartime situation -certainly more rushed than the event Dearka had come down to Earth to attend- but it was, so felt many in the crew, a rather overdue event. The two had been engaged since the day the Junius Treaty was signed, over two years prior.

Talia Gladys, though only recently acquainted with the couple at all, had gladly performed the ceremony in her capacity as _Minerva_'s captain. As she noted at the time, it was a sign of life going on, when they all knew they were heading right into danger once again.

It had also resulted in Kojiro Murdoch becoming wealthier by an unspecified but apparently sizable amount, which the newlyweds carefully overlooked.

"Well," Mu La Flaga drawled into the silence, lounging against the platform behind Murrue's chair, "how about we get going, eh? The sooner we make the impossible possible, the sooner this war is over, and we can all go home."

"Right you are, Mu," Murrue agreed with another smile. "Flay, patch me through to _Minerva."_

"Right away, Captain," Flay Allster acknowledged, tapping quickly at her keyboard. "Link established, Ma'am."

"_You called, Murrue?"_ Talia asked, appearing on Murrue's right armrest.

"Yes, I did. Is the fleet ready to get underway?"

Talia nodded. _"I just got confirmation from Commander Carver and Captain Monkoto on the _Yamamoto. _Any time you're ready, Murrue."_

"All right. In that case…" Murrue looked forward, to where Arnold Neumann and Andrew Waltfeld sat the at the helm stations. "Lieutenant Neumann, take us out of port."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Neumann replied, voice betraying his own pleasure at finally getting underway again. "Ahead one quarter, Commodore?"

"Sounds right to me," Andy agreed. In tandem with Neumann, his hands moved across the console, more hesitantly -as he was still a relative newcomer to the ship- but with equal precision.

LCAM-X01A _Archangel_'s engines rumbled to life, and Neumann smiled widely. "Launching _Archangel!"_

Just as the trio of _Archangel, Odin,_ and _Minerva_ had been the oddest formation to ever enter Carpentaria Base, the task force which now departed was the strangest that had ever set out from the base. Led by the pair of mobile assault ships, moving first like ponderous behemoths and then like the sleek, graceful ships they truly were as their engines spun up, other ships followed in their wake. Two _Vosgulovs_ swung gracefully from the dock, pushed out for open waters, and slid neatly beneath the waves; taking up the rear was the _Yamamoto,_ a carrier formerly of the Earth Alliance and now crewed by the very people she had been sent to kill.

Carrying mobile suits of varying but generally high lethality, led by two ships of formidable firepower themselves, the impromptu ZAFT/Section Nine task force was more than enough to crush any opposition they believed likely to engage them on the journey across the Indian Ocean.

Even so, Kira Yamato, Cagalli Yula Athha, Athrun Zala, and Ken DiFalco were afflicted with a faint trace of tension… but then, they had cause to remember the Indian Ocean well. Kira recalled all too well his fear as he searched the trackless ocean for Ken and -especially- Cagalli, after the born-in-space ace had gotten the pair of them lost after a battle.

Ken, Cagalli, and Athrun remembered an encounter on a deserted island, one which almost ended in tragedy.

Had they but known it, there was more reason to be tense than merely bad memories. From the secret Truman Base, a force even greater than theirs set sail, equipped with weapons neither ZAFT nor Section Nine even suspected… and less than a kilometer out from the base, the fleet sailed into fog, and vanished without a trace.

* * *

Lagrange Point 5, PLANTs, Aprilius One, Chairman Durandal's Office

* * *

"So the task force has set sail?"

"Yes, Your Excellency," Ray Yuki confirmed in response to Durandal's question. _"Minerva, Archangel,_ and their escorts are now on their way to the Middle East, and should be at Gulnahan within the week, assuming no unforeseen obstacles."

Durandal nodded thoughtfully, half-turning toward the chess table that sat to one side of his chair. "And what do you think are the chances of such an obstacle arising, Commandant?"

"Relatively low," Yuki replied cautiously; having barely survived Second Jachin by departing Jachin Due itself when he realized Zala had lost his mind, he had become a very cautious man indeed. Even as the uniformed leader of ZAFT, directly below the Defense Committee Chairman, he took great pains to be precise… and, he hoped, accurate.

"The Earth Alliance still seems to be in some disarray," he went on after a moment. "They're holding the line at Gulnahan, and appear to be preparing an offensive against Gibraltar, but Intelligence believes their Asian theater is still recovering from the botched attacks outside Orb and Carpentaria."

"That was my assessment, as well," the Chairman mused. "Still, one never knows with them; their resources are much greater than ours, and they've shown themselves to be very clever in the past…"

"True, Your Excellency," Yuki agreed readily. "Which is why we've sent three additional ships and their attached mobile suits along. Even if they do run into trouble, it shouldn't be insurmountable."

Durandal smiled faintly. Yuki was a fine officer, he reflected, but not quite in the league of Patrick Zala, or Roy Ames. _Or, for that matter, DiFalco. None of those men would even _think_ of accepting "should" in their calculations. There's no certainty in war, but they'd be as vigilant as possible, even against the unlikely…_

As if sensing his leader's thoughts, Yuki cleared his throat. "We _do_ have the Savior on its way, as well, Your Excellency. Westenfluss will be departing Gibraltar later today; according to schedule, he'll meet up with _Minerva_ somewhere out in the Indian Ocean. And I believe _Archangel_ finally has a pair of Fiannas, which they're fitting out now."

"Hm…" Durandal allowed himself a few more moments of thought on the matter, then nodded sharply. "Yes, I think you're probably right, Commandant. _That_ array of forces won't be defeated by mere force without a great deal more than the Earth Alliance is likely to have available in the region. Very well; that'll be all. Notify me if anything else happens."

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Snapping off a salute, Yuki turned on his heel and strode from the office. He was eager to get back to work; Third Jachin had left him paranoid, and nearly a nervous wreck. He preferred to keep an eye on things personally as often as he could, since _that_ maelstrom.

After the ZAFT officer had departed, Durandal turned his full attention to the chessboard. "So… they've made another step," he murmured. "So far, everything is going as planned… but this Queen's Gambit is risky. If the coming battle should prove to be a defeat, instead of merely a challenge…"

He closed his eyes, and nudged one of the white knights forward on the board.

* * *

Indian Ocean, SNS _Archangel,_ Aft Deck, March 22nd, C.E. 74

* * *

Two days into _Archangel_'s journey across the Indian Ocean -effectively retracing the path she took three years before- a blonde-haired man limped out on deck, bandages still wrapped around the sword wounds on his arms and legs.

He'd been fit to move around for several days now, despite how deep the cuts had gone, but this was the first time since _Archangel_'s first night out of Orb that Rau Le Creuset had dared to leave the interior of the ship. Millenia Crescent's wrath was not something he cared to test again, even with Ken's assurances… and he'd no desire to find out any earlier than necessary how ZAFT at large would react when they learned he still lived.

_Hmph. Ironic,_ Rau thought, walking carefully to the rail at the deck's edge. _Once, this ship would've been the last place I could find welcome, a time when I was trying to destroy her. Now, she's my only refuge from my own former comrades. The world truly is mad, at some level._

Now, as he'd tried many times since being revived and rehabilitated, the masked man thought back, trying to remember just when things had begun to go so wrong. It had started when he realized that he was not only a replacement, but a flawed one at that; that had led to setting the fire that killed his "father" Al Da Flaga. Yet after that, he'd managed to contain himself for a time, fighting the madness. Meeting Gilbert Durandal years later had provided the key to at least temporary stability, in the form of the medication the man provided.

_It must've been the War,_ Rau thought heavily, and rested his arms on the railing. _Copernicus, the Bloody Valentine, the Grimaldi Front… those senseless acts and the increased deterioration…_

"You know who you remind me of right now?"

Rau twitched, and turned to see who had intruded on his brooding solitude. "Mu La Flaga," he said dryly. "I should've known. No, I don't know who I remind you of, but I suppose you're about to enlighten me."

The Hawk of Endymion smirked, leaning back against the bulkhead next to the hatch. "As a matter of fact, you remind me of Falcon, three years ago. He used to brood a lot, too." He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Actually, I don't think he even lightened up at all until after Second Jachin."

"After he found his redemption," Rau said with a nod, and turned back to the sea. "And I suppose you're going to mock me now, for not having any means of redemption myself."

"Wrong." Mu shook his head. "Whether you can redeem yourself or not, I don't know; I'm skeptical, but I've known Falcon long enough to give at least a little weight to his judgment. No, I just wanted to ask you something." He tilted his head, expression unusually grave. "Why'd you do it?"

Another, stronger twitch went through Rau's body. The few who knew of his continued existence had said a lot of things to him since he'd been revived, ranging from sympathetic to distrustful to outright violent… but no one had asked him _why._

Ken, he was sure, already knew, or suspected; the man was too devious for his own good, and also haunted by enough of his own demons to have some understanding. No one else he knew, though, had seemed to care. They either condemned him for it without question, or preferred not to bring up such an… awkward subject.

_Why…_

"…Of all the questions you could've asked me, Mu," Rau said slowly, after a long pause, "that may well be the hardest to answer."

"Somehow I don't think _any_ question about you would be an easy one, Le Creuset," Mu retorted.

The other man allowed himself a small smile. "Maybe you're right… All right. You want the simple form? I thought humanity was comprised of stupid, greedy, self-destructive individuals, who strove simply for their own deaths, whether they knew it or not."

"Sounds simplistic."

"I did say it was the simple form," Rau said mildly. "But perhaps so… It was the view of a man who knew from a very early age that he was created in someone else's image, to be the 'perfect' heir another was not. It was the view of a man whose creation was flawed because his maker chose to play god without properly understanding the science he was meddling with." He glanced sidelong at Mu. "It was the view of a man who lived through the early days of the Bloody Valentine War from the perspective of the PLANTs."

Mu nodded pensively. His own view in those days had been a simple one, and while he'd borne his own share of anger from the use of N-jammers on Earth, he knew the PLANTs' had carried a much deeper reservoir or rage, beginning even before the War. Almost from the day the PLANTs had been completed, the sponsor nations had taken advantage of them, and things had escalated badly after the Blockade.

_Still…_

"Falcon lived through the same events," he pointed out. "And he turned into a robot, not a psychopath."

"He had a very different experience at the Battle of Endymion," Rau pointed out, "and you didn't even meet him till after he'd realized the enormity of his error in creating GENESIS. He also possessed a sound body… I should also note that he headed in my direction, psychologically speaking, for a short time after the Bloody Valentine; why do you think he created GENESIS in the first place?"

"Point taken," Mu conceded. "So, having a disintegrating body and watching people slaughter each other on the battlefield made you think it would be better if _everyone_ died?"

"Something like that." Rau shook his head. "Ironically, it was probably my discussions with Gil that finally convinced me of what I 'needed' to do. He agreed that mankind has is corrupt, but he believed there was a way to change that. How, I don't remember; the operative point is that, through these discussions, I grew to believe that it was either too difficult to bother with, or more likely wouldn't work at all."

"Cynic."

"Realist," Rau retorted. "One thing Falcon and I agreed on even then, Mu: over the entire course of human history, mankind's basic nature has never changed. The difference between us was that I saw _no_ redeeming qualities in Man. As my body deteriorated at an ever-increasing rate, as the War grew ever more brutal, I grew fixated on Man's errors, and could not see Man's virtues. As far as I could see, Man existed only to kill each other, to cause one another suffering, and so I sought to end them at the same time I ended my own suffering."

"So you set out to trick both sides into blowing each to bits?" The Hawk whistled. "You sure didn't think small… or sane."

"I don't deny that. Nor do I deny, now, that I was the source of a good deal of the suffering I observed." The masked man stared out into the distance, his eyes seeing not the ocean but rather the blackness of space, the conflict between Providence and Freedom, and then Preybird. "Ironic, that I would seek to destroy the pointless cycle by becoming the very worst part of it. Too late did I understand…"

The man's every word, every gesture, and very demeanor screamed of someone who wanted someone to kill him, to Mu's eye. Someone who had recovered from insanity only to realize the entire world wanted him dead… and with what appeared to be very good reason.

"No wonder you didn't fight back against that Crescent woman," he mused. "I don't know whether to be glad Falcon stopped her, or disappointed you didn't just throw yourself on her sword. Personally, I'm inclined toward the latter, I must admit…"

"As am I," Rau said unflinchingly. "You don't know what it's like to come back from insanity and death only to realize you'd have been better off if you'd stayed that way. Unfortunately… I still have things I need to do before I go."

Mu raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't believe you could be redeemed."

"I don't, and this isn't about redemption." Rau turned toward his old enemy. "I don't remember just what it is that Gil's up to, but I'm quite certain it's very ambitious, and that he hasn't given up on it. Rey's presence on the _Minerva_ is clearly part of Gil's scheming, and from what little I _do_ recall, that scheme is something none of us would like. As the best clues we have are locked somewhere in my head, my survival is still important… and as I helped shape his plans, one way or another, I have an obligation to do my best to stop them. Only then can I rest."

Taken aback, Mu's only comment was, "Sounds like Falcon, three years ago."

"He and I are very alike, in many ways," Rau acknowledged, turning back to the ocean. "And he and I understand something Gil does not, perhaps _can_not." His gaze went back to the unending, unchanging sea.

"It's not about changing the world. It's about doing our best to leave the world the way it is…"

* * *

SNS _Archangel,_ Bridge, March 23rd, C.E. 74

* * *

Reclining in the captain's chair, Natarle Badgiruel stifled a yawn. It was past zero hundred, local time, and on top of that the journey across the ocean had been almost entirely smooth sailing so far. _The only excitement so far was that neutercane the other day,_ she mused. _The last voyage this uneventful was… the trip from Ame-no-Mihashira to Mendel? Something like that…_

Not that she wasn't insisting that the night watch crew keep a close eye on things. For all that she'd loosened up some since leaving the Earth Forces, after the Battle of Alaska, Natarle had never forgotten that discipline and watchfulness kept life and limb intact.

"Ship's status?" she asked idly, more to be doing something than because she thought anything might be amiss.

"Still on course for the Persian Gulf, Ma'am," Neumann replied, reclining in his own chair; at this point, hands-on piloting was unnecessary, barring an unexpected storm… or another neutercane, like the one that had sent _Minerva_ climbing skyward, _Archangel_ plunging for undersea safety, and the _Yamamoto_'s people hanging on for dear life several days earlier. "ETA unchanged."

"Clear sailing according to radar," Jackie Tonomura chimed in; as detection officer, he was also the ship's de facto meteorologist. "Doesn't rule out a neutercane, but there's no sign of a _normal_ hurricane."

Natarle nodded. She didn't expect another such event; the storms were essentially unpredictable, short-lived hurricanes, and were so uncommon that some people still believed them to be myths. The chances of the same task force running into two in the same voyage were effectively nonexistent.

"Task force still in formation, Commander," Miriallia put in, from Natarle's own usual position in CIC. The young lieutenant had been steadily assuming greater responsibilities since the _Archangel_ returned to the scene; Natarle suspected the younger woman was being groomed for duty as executive officer aboard one of the other Section Nine ships, once she was experienced enough. For now, she was doing an excellent job overseeing the Combat Information Center.

"_Yamamoto_ also reports repairs to storm damage complete," Mir went on, glancing down at the display mounted on the movable arm in front of her chair (a recent modification, giving the exec easier access to CIC's information). "Looks like everything is normal for now."

"Good." Natarle sighed, allowing her muscles to relax even more. "We'll need to save our energy for Gulnahan; that's not going to be an easy objective to take…"

Mir, remembering several of the hairier messes _Archangel_ had gotten into in the First War, couldn't help but agree. She forced her own muscles to relax, trying the shed the tension she felt at assuming full control of CIC, however temporarily, for the first time.

_I sure have moved up in the world,_ she thought to herself, idly watching a fog bank approach the bow on her monitor. _I started out as a second-class crewman, acting as little more than a relay between the bridge and the pilots, and now I'm a lieutenant, fully qualified to take the watch in CIC._ She smiled wryly. _Of course, this isn't exactly what I was expecting to do with my life, back when Kira and I and everybody else were still at the college on Heliopolis…_

Inevitably, the reminiscences brought back memories of another student from those days, a cheerful, brown-haired youth by the name of Tolle Koenig. Her boyfriend, once… until his reckless entry into a battle in the Marshal Islands resulted in his death at the hands of Athrun Zala.

It brought a pang to Mir's heart, even now, but it was a familiar pain, one she'd learned to live with. Her good friend Ken and current boyfriend Dearka had helped her see that life went on, even in the face of terrible loss…

Mir allowed herself a sigh of her own, and started to genuinely relax at last.

That was when, on the monitor, the captured _Spengler_-class carrier slipped into the fog ahead of the _Archangel,_ and vanished.

At first, she thought nothing of it; it was, after all, an unusually thick bank of fog, so it wasn't too surprising that the _Yamamoto_ couldn't even be seen. Then, though, the ship's telemetry vanished from Mir's status display.

She frowned, straightening in her chair. _That's odd… Malfunction? I mean, we've got ships built by two different factions here; _Yamamoto_ might be Earth Forces, too, but the ZAFT signals might be interfering… Wait!_

"Sai, activate ECCM _now!"_

Sai jerked upright, startled by the sudden command, but instinctively obeyed. "ECCM coming online now!" he reported, hands darting across his console.

Natarle's head snapped around. "Lieutenant Haw, what are you-?"

_Archangel_ penetrated the fogbank, and Neumann let out a strangled gasp. "Commander-!"

The exec's gaze came forward again… and her face paled. "How did they…?"

On the other side of the fogbank's edge, there was no fog. There was, however, an entire _fleet_ staring them in the face. At least a dozen _Danilov_-class destroyers, two _Spengler_-class carriers… and two _Archangel_-class mobile assault ships, accompanied by a single _Odin_-class escort ship.

Already in the air were over a dozen Windams, with more launching, and Natarle had an uneasy feeling she knew what would be coming out of one of the _Archangels._

_How did they… Wait. Dead Zone; it has to be. I didn't think it could work on Earth, because people would notice a hole in the ocean, but with artificially-generated fog…_

An explosion off _Archangel_'s port bow, about where _Yamamoto_ should've been, shook Natarle out of her stunned stupor. "Captain to the bridge!" she snapped, tapping a command into her armrest panel. "Captain to the bridge _immediately!_ All hands to Level One Battlestations!"

"_All hands to Level One Battlestations!"_ the intercom system relayed. _"All hands to Level One Battlestations! All hands to Level One Battlestations!"_

Without waiting for orders, Mir started barking out commands of her own. "Initiate Dead Zone countermeasures," she snapped to Sai. _"Odin_ Protocol Alpha-Three. Load Sledgehammer missiles; Gottfrieds and Valiants online. Prepare for antiship combat. And get all pilots to the hangar immediately!"

Natarle spared a brief instant to give the younger woman an approving look, before glancing at the duty radio officer. "Get me a link to _Minerva,"_ she ordered, "and get the Day Watch crew up here at once!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

As alarms began to ring throughout the ship, officers and crew bailed out of their bunks, and weapons popped out of their compartments, the first cannon shells and energy bolts from the oncoming fleet reached out for the combined task force…

* * *

SNS _Archangel,_ Captain's Quarters

* * *

"_Captain to the bridge! Captain to the bridge _immediately!_ All hands to Level One Battlestations!"_

Murrue jerked awake in an instant, reflexes honed by similar messages during the War. Rolling off the warm pillow she'd been using, she hit the intercom panel next to her bunk without even looking. "What's going on?!" she demanded. At the same time, ignoring her duty uniform, she snatched up her combat suit.

"_Incoming enemy fleet, Captain,"_ Natarle replied tautly. _"At least seventeen ships, two of them _Archangels,_ and an _Odin._ Over a dozen mobile suits already in the air, with more launching as we speak; probability is high that Zeta Squadron is present, as well."_ A rumble that filled the ship punctuated her statement. _"We're already under fire, Captain, and we're unable to fully compensate for the Dead Zone effect they're currently employing."_

Ken swore softly, coming off the bunk in a near-leap; ignoring his own uniform, he yanked out his flightsuit and started pulling it on with almost painful haste. "Get all our pilots to their machines, and recommend to _Minerva_ that they do the same," he said sharply.

"_Already done,"_ Natarle assured him. _"Point-defense net with _Minerva_ is also set up. We'll launch mobile suits as they're ready."_

"Good," Murrue told her, fastening the formfitting suit's collar and reaching for the helmet. "Engage at your discretion until I arrive; we can't lose any time."

"_Lieutenant Haw is already on it, Ma'am,"_ her exec said.

Murrue smiled briefly. "Good for her. Ken?"

"Already gone," the ace told her, keying the hatch. Pausing to give her a quick kiss, he charged off down the corridor toward the hangar, with Murrue speeding off in the other direction.

* * *

_Minerva,_ Bridge

* * *

Talia arrived on the bridge at a dead run, still fastening the collar of her uniform. "Status?" she barked, striding quickly to the center seat.

Arthur Trine shot to his feat, vacating the chair with grateful haste. "Tentative estimate of twelve destroyers, two carriers, a pair of mobile assault ships, and an _Odin_-class escort," he reported, stepping to one side. "Twelve Windams already airborne, with additional units believed to be on the way."

She nodded curtly, and slid into the chair. "Lower bridge to battle position," she instructed. "Arthur, how did they get this close without us noticing them?"

"Dead Zone, Captain," he answered with a wince. "According to Commander Badgiruel, their Lieutenant Haw first noticed it when the _Yamamoto_ entered the fog and vanished from sensors; apparently they're using the fog to hide the visual discrepancy that would otherwise have betrayed them here on Earth."

Talia grimaced. Dead Zone had been a favorite tactic of the Earth Alliance since its efficacy had nearly destroyed the _Archangel_ in an ambush; it had been used to deadly effect at Second and Third Jachin, as well. _We still haven't figured out how to counter the Colloid effect, and every time we get a handle on the jamming, they introduce a new variant. Still… there should be one weakness to planetary use of the system._

"Fire control jamming?" she asked, turning to Chen; her query was punctuated by a flash as a bolt from a _Danilov_'s forward turret spattered against _Minerva_'s hull.

"Minimal," the FCS officer replied, tapping at his console. "Radar is a fuzzy mess, but it looks like gravity prevents the laser-jamming particles from remaining a problem. We can still target just fine."

Talia nodded sharply. "Excellent. Concentrate your fire on those _Danilovs;_ the carriers aren't much of a threat, and we can better handle the _Archangels_ and _Odin_ once they're out of the way."

"Understood, Ma'am."

"And get our machines into the air immediately," she snapped over at Meyrin Hawke. "Get Luna and Rey out on Guuls, and have Commander Crescent guard Shinn till the Impulse is fully assembled."

"Right away, Ma'am!" Meyrin cupped one hand over her headset. "Commander Crescent?"

"_I heard,"_ the violet-haired commander replied, appearing on Meyrin's monitor. _"I'm going out immediately."_ Her expression was grim. _"We'll need as much cover as you can give us; there's a lot of hostile fire out there, and I strongly suspect worse is on the way."_

"We'll do our best," Meyrin promised.

* * *

Earth Alliance Mobile Assault Ship _Ophanim,_ Bridge

* * *

Vice Admiral Cyril Kimmer smiled thinly, seeing the sudden flurry of activity on the target ships. _Yamamoto_ was already blasting itself apart, victim of _Thor_'s Gottfried -he made a mental note to recover the ship's survivors after the battle; he wouldn't leave even an enemy to drown- and the other ships of the enemy task force had clearly been taken completely by surprise.

"The ambush seems to be going well," Neo Roanoke observed, standing at the admiral's side. "At the least, we have the advantage of surprise well in hand."

"That we do," Kimmer agreed, glancing over at the young captain. "Not heading out yourself, Captain?"

Neo -clad in a black flightsuit with matching helmet tucked under his arm- shook his head. "Not yet, at any rate. Admiral, there are a number of G-type mobile suits on those ships, but we still hold the advantage in numbers, even of those. Unless the situation changes, I'll let my Extendeds, Zeta, and the Frighteners handle this."

Kimmer nodded approvingly. "I like an officer who isn't afraid to delegate."

"Victory is the objective, Admiral, and the only heroes I know are dead ones; glory doesn't exist in war." Neo smiled sardonically. "I don't need to get my own hands dirty to feel that I've done my part."

"Stick with that attitude, and you'll be in my chair soon enough," the admiral remarked, with a smile of his own.

"No thanks. I can do more good here, as a pilot." Neo gestured toward Kimmer's communications panel. "May I?"

"Be my guest."

Neo reached over, punched in a combination, and waited until a helmeted face appeared on the armrest screen. "Status, Commander?"

"_My people are good to go in thirty seconds, Captain,"_ Hamilton replied from the _Thor_, closing his faceplate. _"And yes, I've made sure Scar is leaving his bazooka behind today; I don't think Director Azrael is likely to repeat Djibril's idiotic stunt, but I don't want any chance at all of accidents."_

"Prudent," Neo agreed. "Especially since the vast majority of the Atlantic Federation's 'special' units are here today." He absently rubbed the left eyepiece of his mask. "Oh, and Commander… try and keep an eye on my people, will you? The Extendeds are good, but they're a little…"

"_Flaky?"_ Hamilton snorted. _"Not as bad as the previous Director Azrael's crew; I remember seeing those guys shooting at each other as often as at the enemy… I get your drift, though. I'll tell Jonas to keep half an eye out. I'll probably be too busy with Freedom and Justice."_

"That's all I ask." Satisfied, Neo nodded once, and switched links. "Stellar, can you hear me?"

"_Yes, Neo,"_ the blonde, shy pilot responded. _"We going out soon, aren't we?"_

"As soon as the Katanas launch," he confirmed; her quiet, almost innocent demeanor didn't worry him in the slightest. As soon as the battle was joined, Neo knew, she'd be as fierce as anyone, and more than most… a fact which obscurely saddened him. "Now remember, stay calm, keep an eye on your surroundings, and rely on your teammates; do that, and you'll be just fine." He smiled for her, an expression he wished he could truly mean. "Nothing bad will happen."

Stellar smiled back. _"Thank you."_

"Report from _Kyriotite,_ Admiral," Lieutenant Ogden reported from Communications. "Captain Bernadotte is launching; the Frighteners are right behind him."

"_We're launching, too,"_ Hamilton called, appearing on O'Malley's flight ops screen in CIC. _"Zeta, launching."_

Kimmer and Neo both looked toward the bridge's forward viewport, where mobile suits could be seen streaking off into the night from three different ships. And, beyond them, bright shapes could be discerned rocketing off the catapults of the enemy mobile assault ships, as well.

This would be a slugging match. The Earth Forces group had several technical advantages, including at least one they were fairly sure the enemy knew nothing about, and another they were quite certain neither ZAFT nor Section Nine had any real information on; they also the advantage in overall numbers.

Neo kept in mind, though, that there was a reason one of their opponents was called the "Indestructible _Archangel"._ He was also aware that the team of Freedom and Justice had smashed almost everything they'd ever faced, even without the addition of Preybird to form a triad. And, of course, the other pilots they faced -at least the veterans- had not survived so long by being easy targets, either.

_Still,_ he told himself, _this time, they're going to get hurt, badly. They have no inkling about Major Willet, they don't know about the new rifles, and for that matter even Bernadotte should come as a surprise, assuming they haven't heard of the Nosferatu yet._

"Cry havoc," he whispered, gazing out into the night, "and let slip the dogs of war…"

* * *

Indian Ocean, Dead Zone

* * *

ZGMF-X10A Freedom hurtled into the sky, followed closely by its brother suit, ZGMF-X09A Justice.

"Here we go, Athrun," Kira called, glancing at his best friend's mobile suit. "This isn't going to be easy… It's going to be a lot harder than even last time."

"I know," Athrun acknowledged somberly. "The odds are against us. But we can still- Whoa!"

Justice spun to one side, letting a crackling blue bolt scorch past. A follow-up shot nearly caught the machine dead center, but Athrun had located the source now. Gritting his teeth, he snapped up his rifle, spitting an emerald dart across the darkened sky.

The Windam, caught full in the face, seemed to stagger in the air; a perfectly round hole had been melted through its visor, and after a split second of sparking, it blew apart, spraying melted metal all over. Before any secondary cameras could kick in, Athrun's second shot speared it in the chest, and the entire mobile suit blew apart.

"What on earth was it firing?" Athrun demanded, raising his shield to fend off a more conventional green dart. "Kira?"

"I don't know," Kira replied, as his targeting computer snapped up. "I think I've seen that effect somewhere before, but I can't… Blast it!"

Athrun's head snapped around. "What's wrong?"

The other pilot swore. "They've upgraded Dead Zone again," he said grimly, letting his targeting display slide down again. "I can't get more than two or three locks, and even those are iffy. We'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."

"Great." Athrun noticed Kira's voice was even flatter than it might've been, and he didn't have to think on it long to realize why. Kira tended to use his "multi-beam attack" to disable multiple opponents simultaneously; without it, he was going to have to use more direct measures, which meant more people were going to have to die to get them out of this insane trap.

_Well,_ the ex-ZAFT pilot thought to himself, _he can't be _too_ surprised; his battle with Falcon at Jachin taught him something about the nature of battle…_

"Okay," he said presently, feeding power to his verniers for a steep climb, "we're gonna have to pick them off one by one. There's still… looks like fifteen or sixteen Windams airborne now. We can handle…" He trailed off, seeing more signatures appearing on his thermal display. "Kira, we've got company-"

An all-too-familiar, staccato burst of emerald light peppered the sky, stray shots melting furrows along both Freedom and Justice.

"Time for a rematch, Aces of Orb," a voice said calmly. "This time, there won't be any… unforeseen cataclysms to interfere, either."

When Kira looked down, he saw exactly what he knew he would: a wedge-shaped craft blazing across the sky toward them, climbing up from _Ophanim._ "Hamilton," he breathed. "You again.. Athrun, where's-"

As had become almost a given, he wasn't given a chance to finish the sentence. "If you're hoping for assistance from the Demon Lord," Hamilton said easily, "I'm afraid it's for naught. He's about to be… occupied."

Reaching their altitude, Zeta transformed, transitioning smoothly to mobile suit mode; and, watching it, Athrun's eyes narrowed. "You didn't come off very well last time," he said evenly. "I really think you should reconsider this."

"Not happening, Coordinator. You see, there's this small concept that I adhere to, one that -judging from your absence from ZAFT- you're not very familiar with. It's called 'duty,'" Hamilton explained. "And my duty is to destroy you, and your friends, and every other member of your organization and your allies until they finally surrender to the inevitable."

Athrun's fist clenched. "You call that duty?" he said tightly, remembering the face of someone who had once been family… but had died as a very, very different man. "Duty, Hamilton, is a lot different from what you think it is."

"Then I suggest you prove it, Zala," Hamilton said, lifting his rifle. "Idealism means nothing on the battlefield… and the same goes for this chatter."

The air around them was suddenly rent with bullets and energy blasts, as all three combatants opened fire simultaneously. Kira's favored full-assault, though hampered by Dead Zone, still wasn't something any sane pilot wanted to get in front of; the same went for Athrun's salvo of rifle, cannon, and machine cannon fire.

By comparison, Hamilton's rifle shot and grenade launch were almost pitiful, and a lesser pilot would've died.

Allen C. Hamilton was by no means a lesser pilot.

Firing leg and back verniers simultaneously, he flipped Zeta onto its back, letting himself fall away from his opponents; machinegun fire crashed into his armor and ricocheted, one of Freedom's plasma bolts melted a chunk off the bulky armor of his left shoulder, and one of Athrun's Fortis beams spattered off his shield… but the machine survived.

Athrun managed to snap up his shield at the last instant, letting Hamilton's emerald dart smash itself into green sparks against it; Kira was not so lucky, and he grunted as both grenades slammed full into Freedom's chest, consuming the machine in a fiery explosion and blasting it off balance.

"Kira!"

Swearing under his breath, Kira wrestled with his controls. "I'm all right," he called through gritted teeth, shoving his thruster pedal to the cockpit floor. "Just nicked… Whoa!"

Freedom flipped and awkwardly spiraled to the left, narrowly evading another pair of green streaks. Zeta was taking advantage of Freedom's unbalance, and Hamilton smiled tightly, triggering another pair of grenades while Kira was still recovering.

Kira cried out involuntarily, thrown against his restraints by the grenade's collision with his left arm… but this time, the other grenade simply vanished a bare two meters from Freedom's fuselage, disappearing in a puff of smoke and a flash of green light.

Hamilton's smile disappeared with it, and he kicked Zeta into a roll only barely in time to avoid being skewered by a follow up shot. _He shot it down?! If he'd missed, he would've killed Yamato himself! Is he insane?!_

"You shouldn't have tried taking us on all alone, Hamilton!" Athrun shouted. "Now it's time to end this!"

Justice hurtled down into a dive of its own, chasing after Zeta, and Athrun was not deterred even when it switched to mobile armor mode. Though the Earth Alliance machine poured more power into its verniers, thrust aiding aerodynamics in Hamilton's attempt to gain distance, Athrun merely narrowed his eyes, and detached his subflight lifter.

The Fatum 00 flight pack lifted away from its mount, letting Justice fall away even faster, and darted ahead of its parent machine. Freed of the mass it normally supported, it swiftly gained on Zeta, firing its machine and beam cannons as it arced toward its target.

Hamilton swore softly, knowing that even bullets could hurt him, if aimed properly. He snapped Zeta onto its left wing and hauled back on his controls, pulled a bone-bruising turn. Bullets and beams scorched past all around him, still closing; unmanned and dealing with far less mass, the Fatum could out-turn even Zeta without much difficulty.

_Which is why I won't get into a maneuvering duel with this thing._

He didn't know if the flight unit was being remotely controlled, or operating via limited AI, but he suspected the latter; even a Coordinator would have difficulty controlling it and his machine at the same time. And if that was so… he could predict it.

_So we do it… now!_

Zeta rolled over, transforming mid-maneuver. Now flying backwards, face to the sky, Zeta's rifle snapped up, aiming for the space Hamilton knew the Fatum would be occupying in an instant, and spat a green dart across the sky.

It missed.

At the exact moment Zeta transformed, Freedom had landed on the subflight lifter, using its mass to drop it out of the line of fire… and back onto the Justice's backpack.

"What the-?!"

Exchanging a brief, sharp nod over their comm screens, Kira and Athrun opened fire as one, their paired machines sending out a veritable wall of red-orange and emerald beams, and a hail of tungsten penetrators…

* * *

The Core Splendor rocketed out of _Minerva_'s central catapult, and was almost flash-fried before it got more than a dozen meters out.

Acting more on instinct than conscious thought, Shinn broke hard right, letting the crackling blue bolt blaze past. "What was _that?"_ he demanded of the battlefield at large, rolling to reverse his turn.

A precisely-targeted emerald bolt scorched through the space he'd occupied a moment before, and skewered the Windam that had fired the shot. Smashing in through the cockpit hatch, the beam blast punched out through the Windam's main thrusters, accompanied by a gout of flame, and the machine dropped toward the ocean.

"Some delightful surprise the Earth Forces have prepared for us, no doubt," Millenia said grimly, her Strike Noir flashing through the airspace its victim had attempted to dominate. "We'll compare notes with the others when we have the chance. For now, get Impulse together, Shinn; I'll cover you."

"Roger that."

_Well,_ Millenia thought, taking up a guard position in front of the now-combining Impulse, _I guess we can't blame _this_ on being overconfident. I don't think any of us could've anticipated them moving in this strength, or with this kind of stealth. They must have a pretty good read on our satellite coverage, though, if they were able to get out of their base and into Dead Zone's cover without anyone noticing…_

Even in the midst of her musing, though, she kept an eye on the battlefield… a fact which saved her life, and very possibly Shinn's as well, when bursts of green fire started raining down from three directions at once.

Reacting purely on machine-enhanced instinct, Millenia flung Strike Noir backward, colliding with Impulse. The newer machine had, fortunately, just finished assembling itself into its Force configuration, but the impact sufficed to destroy the fine balance keeping the two machines aloft.

Exactly as Millenia had intended.

The two fell, out of control, but the very randomness of the fall threw off the targeting of the trio of Windams that had surrounded them. Emerald energy continued to fall down toward them, but it lacked the coordination of the initial barrage; and neither ZAFT pilot was inclined to give them time to recover.

Though Shinn hadn't anticipated his commander's unorthodox maneuver, he was quick on the uptake. Mid-fall, he fired his leg verniers, shoving Impulse away from Strike Noir, then touched off his main thrusters to pull out of the tumble.

Bringing up his targeting computer even in the midst of the tumble, Shinn snapped up his rifle, forced himself to ignore the green dart that ripped into his right shoulder, and pulled the trigger.

At the same time, Millenia's linear cannons snapped up, even as her thrusters wrenched her out of her own twisting plunge, and her hands moved across her controls with machine-like precision and timing.

The first Windam got off one more hasty shot, narrowly missing Impulse's pelvis, before return fire took it full in the face; the avenging blast blew a hole clean through, then ripped the machine's head to shrapnel, before a second shot smashed into its flight unit's starboard engine.

The turbine, suddenly melted partly away, swiftly ripped itself to shreds, blasting pieces of itself into the remaining engine, fouling it. Metal and machinery screaming in protest, it flung the Windam into an uncontrolled spin; with a shout of surprise and anguish from its helpless pilot, the machine careened into a downward spiral, its trajectory terminating in the ocean.

Millenia's target, by contrast, suffered a much more prosaic fate. The twin linear projectiles smashed into its torso, brutally abusing it, and it simply exploded into fire and molten metal without doing anything more than launching a salvo of missiles.

Mostly ignoring the missiles -unable to penetrate her machine's defenses- Millenia glanced over at Shinn, and nodded approvingly. "Nice shot."

"Still one left," he replied curtly. "I've got him." Juking left to let another of the strange blue bolts crackle past, he stowed his rifle, snatched out a beam saber, and launched himself up toward the remaining Windam.

"Close combat?" the Earth Alliance pilot sneered. "Don't try it!" Throwing aside the bulky rifle it had been using, the Windam pulled out one of its own sabers; its ignition was like the lighting of a torch against the moonless night.

Shinn didn't even blink; he'd fought blade to blade before, and had received additional training since his last battle in simulator runs against one Ken DiFalco. _I can take this-_

The Windam's shield hurtled down, bashing Impulse in the left shoulder before whirling down toward the sea. The blow did absolutely nothing to the VPS-protected limb, but it did throw Shinn's aim off… just long enough for the Windam's now-freed left hand to pull out its conventional rifle, and fire off a green dart.

Shinn, given a bare instant to react and with his shield arm still recovering, did the first thing that came to mind: he attempted to swat the energy bolt aside with his beam saber, in mimicry of a move his mentor had pulled more than once in the past.

The good news was that it prevented him from getting instantly fried by the bolt of raw energy. The bad news was that, having never attempted the maneuver before, he caught the emerald streak with the _hilt_ of his saber, instead of the blade.

Shinn cried out, startled, and the Windam pilot smiled. Taking advantage of the weapon's destruction, uncaring of Impulse's attempt to reach for its remaining blade, he took careful aim for one final shot…

Suddenly, the Earth Forces pilot felt his cockpit growing hot, and he started to whirl. "What the- _Aaahhh-!"_

On the heels of the pilot's final scream, the Windam's torso warped, melted, and blew apart, leaving heat-warped limbs and other scraps to fall to the ocean below.

Hovering behind the near-vaporized Windam, the crimson and gray form of ZGMF-X00A Preybird lifted its maser rifle off target, and looked down at the Impulse. Shinn, now recognizing that his move had been somewhat… ill-considered, expected some kind of rebuke from the other pilot, but instead the machine simply waved the tip of the rifle minutely.

"Nice move, Shinn," Ken said calmly. "Just a little high. Practice."

"I will, Commander," Shinn promised. "Thanks."

"De nada." Preybird's thrusters flared, turning the machine ninety degrees… and then it halted. "What the…?"

Rocketing up to their altitude, Strike Noir came to a hovering stop between Impulse and Preybird.

"What's going on, Falcon?" Millenia demanded, forgetting their mutual tension in the heat of the battle.

"I'm reading a thermal pattern I don't recognize," Ken replied absently, gazing intently at the display that had superimposed itself over his visuals. "Several of them, in fact, launching from _Kyriotite…_ It's almost like…"

Shared instinct sent the three machines scattering to the four winds a bare instant before a pair of powerful emerald darts and a streak of red-orange light could wipe them from the universe.

"You were right, Jonas," Scar Goldberg gloated, scorching through the sky from _Thor._ "It's those guys we fought last time, and the stolen machine!"

"It wasn't exactly a hard deduction to make, Scar," Jonas Pike replied calmly, his Sigma following Nova more cautiously. "Impulse is distinctive… and Preybird isn't hard to spot, either." His eyes glinted coldly behind his visor. "I have a score to settle with you, Demon Lord."

Ken started to move to confront the new opponents, but Impulse unexpectedly side-slipped into his path. "Commander Crescent and I will handle them, Commander," Shinn snapped. "Go! Find out what's going on with _Kyriotite!"_

"He's right," Millenia agreed, drawing one of her beam swords. "We've got them. Go."

Ken hesitated another moment, but no longer. One of the harder lessons he'd learned at Second Jachin was to delegate. "…Right. Protect the ships; and be careful." Feeding power into his thrusters, he launched Preybird forward, blazing past the two Zeta Squadron machines.

Pike started to turn to follow, but a green streak from Strike Noir's left-hand rifle nearly tore Sigma's head off for his pains. "I don't think so, Pike," Millenia said softly. "Don't even try it."

"Taking me on without even a shield?" Pike snorted. "You've got guts, getting in my way like that… but if you insist on my destroying you before going on my way, I'll oblige you."

"I don't mind at all," Goldberg interjected, hefting his plasma rifle. "I've got a score to settle, too… after what that _brat_ made me do at Orb!" His lips curled back in an angry snarl. "I nearly got killed, or cashiered, for that one, kid."

"Too bad," Shinn shot back, and brought to life his remaining saber in a flash of red fire. "You started this war, but _we're_ going to finish it!"

* * *

_Archangel,_ Corridor

* * *

Another explosion rocked the ship, and Rau Le Creuset stumbled against a bulkhead. Swearing under his breath, he shoved himself upright again, glancing up and down the corridor. _Which way?_ he wondered. _I've got to find out what's happening around here, but just about everyone on the ship will be too busy trying to stay alive…_

Sighing, Rau allowed himself to lean against the bulkhead for support, recognizing the truth. Once upon a time, he'd have been right in the thick of such a defense; even aboard the _Odin,_ he'd at least had a place as controller for off-loaded operatives. Here on the _Archangel,_ though… Here he was a complete outsider, neither required nor really trusted by the regular crew.

_After what I've done, there's no other way,_ he acknowledged to himself._ They respect Falcon's judgment, but still refuse to trust me themselves any more than they have to… as is only fitting, for someone such as myself._

Rau sighed again, and turned to return to his quarters… only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"You're not thinking of giving up, are you?"

Surprised, he turned, and found Siegel Clyne looking directly into his eyes. "Chairman Clyne…?"

Clyne waved his free hand. "Chairman no longer," he corrected. "Even before Durandal took power, I willingly gave up politics. But that doesn't really matter right now."

"No," Rau agreed slowly, "I suppose it doesn't… Can you tell me what's going on?"

"I've only overheard bits and pieces myself," Clyne admitted. "But apparently, the Earth Forces managed to pull off another Dead Zone ambush somehow… and we're facing heavy opposition. Heavier, I think, than anything _Archangel_ has ever faced directly." He shrugged. "We do have _Minerva_ and the other ZAFT ships on our side, but still…"

"It's not looking good for us," the former ZAFT commander finished. "The Earth Forces are getting smarter…" He sighed, turning away again. "In that case, I suppose you and I should be getting out of the way. There's no sense blocking the corridors in the middle of a battle."

"So you _are_ just going to give up?"

Rau froze. "…I'm not sure what you mean, Clyne," he said carefully.

Clyne snorted. "Le Creuset, I won't deny that I thought DiFalco was insane for bringing you back. My first reaction, in fact, was very similar to Commander La Flaga's, except that I don't keep pistols handy. My second reaction was to strangle either you or DiFalco with my bare hands… but I've had a little time to think about it since then. Do I completely trust you?" he asked rhetorically. "No. That will take a lot of time, if it ever happens at all. But…"

"But?" Rau prompted warily, a strange feeling rising in the back of his mind.

"But… I know a man seeking atonement when I see one." Clyne smiled faintly. "I spent enough time in planning sessions with the Major, three years ago, to recognize that. And if atonement is what you're looking for… then go out there and find it."

Rau's eyebrows went up. "Go out there?" he repeated. "In what? All right, so we're still hauling around that Spearhead fighter Falcon picked up for reasons known only to Falcon three years ago, but that's-"

"Use your imagination," Clyne suggested, smile widening slightly. "You've been a bit out of touch, brooding in your quarters; things have changed a little. So… use the intellect that allowed you to manipulate the entire world during the War, and figure something out." Finally releasing Rau's shoulder, he turned away. "As for me, I _am_ going to stay out of the way… but _you_ don't have to."

The who had once been -and, he admitted to himself, probably still was- the most reviled figure of the First Bloody Valentine War watched him go, head suddenly whirling. _Go out there… Even if there is something else aboard that I don't know about, can I actually do this? Fight once again… I haven't even touched a mobile suit's controls since Falcon nearly killed me at Second Jachin. Do I even still have what it takes to fly in combat?_

_And even if I do… have I the right? It's like I've told Falcon, so many times: it might well have been better if he'd just left me dead. My greatest accomplishment is coming with millimeters of successfully destroying mankind…_

_And yet,_ he thought abruptly, _what better way to _use_ my borrowed time than by helping to defend the ship that stopped me? At the least, I'll finally find death in a way that I need not be ashamed of, and if I survive…_

Hesitating a moment longer, Rau finally turned, and -ignoring the lingering pain from his wounds- started jogging down the corridor… toward the hangar bay.

* * *

_Archangel,_ Bridge

* * *

With Murrue's arrival, there was a brief flurry of activity -Natarle vacating the captain's chair, Miriallia shifting hurriedly to her own usual station to make room for her, and then Murrue taking her place in the center seat- before things settled back into the controlled chaos of battle.

"Report!" Murrue barked, even as an explosion from a missile intercepted close to _Archangel_'s hull rocked the ship.

"Bad," Natarle said frankly. "In addition to the forces I reported earlier, _Thor_'s launched Zeta Squadron. Kira, Athrun, and two of _Minerva_'s pilots are engaging, and at least three Windams have been downed, but there's still new machines launching. Some of them, we don't even recognize, but there's something…"

"Möbius One is checking that, Captain," Miriallia interjected, using her friend's callsign for clarity. "Preybird is heading for _Kyriotite_ now."

Murrue nodded tightly. "And the others?" An blast of emerald light from _Ophanim_ crashed into _Archangel_'s bow, splattering against the ship's laminated armor, and she shook her head quickly. "Never mind. Get clear of _Ophanim_'s guns, and start killing those destroyers! The sooner those are out of the way-"

"Right away, Ma'am!" Neumann acknowledged, and hauled back on his controls. "Commodore-?"

"I'm on it," Andy Waltfeld replied; once again filling in at the copilot's station, he started cross-feeding hostile fire-control data into the navigation systems. "Twenty-three degrees to port, and bring us down twelve meters!"

In accordance with the command, _Archangel_ heeled over, swinging out of the path of a pair of linear cannon shells from _Thor._ At the same time, her Gottfried cannons swiveled smoothly to starboard, compensating for the ship's maneuvers, as Romero Pal tracked in on his target.

Staring out into the dark night, Murrue's gaze bored in on _Ophanim, _as if by sheer force of will she could read the intentions of the devious maniacs commanding the ambush. As she did, a Windam flew into view, racing in to make a pass at _Archangel_'s bridge, a tactic which had been tried before… usually with rather more success.

_This_ mobile suit didn't even get a chance to raise its rifle before a blade of frozen fire crashed into its right arm, melting through the elbow in a shower of liquefied metal. The blade ripped out the underside, pulled back as limb and rifle alike tumbled away, and plunged forward again, piercing the Windam's head.

A subsequent kick slammed the machine down and out of sight, ripping its head off in the process, and Strike Rouge paused to flash the still-impaled metal cranium like a trophy, before darting off again.

_Well, Cagalli's doing well, for her first time back in battle in three years,_ Murrue thought distantly. _Mu must not be far behind-_

A concussion greater than any previous crashed through the _Archangel,_ the sound resounding loud enough to nearly deafen the crew. "Hull breach!" Sai shouted over the din. "Sledgehammer missile, after starboard! Two Igelstellungs gone, fire in Block Fifteen-"

Light lanced out from beyond the viewports, this time going _toward_ the enemy fleet, and another explosion split the heavens. "Direct hit on enemy destroyer!" Tonomura exclaimed. "One _Danilov_ confirmed destroyed!"

Indeed, even in the darkness, the result of Pal's careful shot were visible. The foremost of the _Danilovs_ had turned hard to starboard, bringing fore and aft weapons to bear, and had paid a price when the greater surface area resulted in both cannon bolts skewering it. Chunks of the ship's hull vaporized, leaving bow, stern, and amidships in three separate pieces; for a few seconds, they seemed likely to keep floating on their own… and then they, too, blew apart, showering the sea with debris and burning lubricants.

_Archangel_ had struck the first retaliatory blow… and it would not be the last.

* * *

_Kyriotite,_ Catapults

* * *

The big, bald man gave his luxuriant mustache a last stroke, then sealed his faceplate and took his machine's controls in hand. "So, it's finally time, Major?"

"Yes, Walter," Karen Willet confirmed, from her own machine's cockpit. "Yes, the time for total secrecy has ended. Soon, the name 'Frighteners' will spark fear in more than just the hearts of those in the shadows. Today, we show the world our strength."

"And," another woman's voice put in dryly, "you get a real test, eh, Major?"

"That's right, Eva," Willet said, smiling thinly. "The Butcher Bird and the White Knight… today I will see for myself just how much of their superiority is skill, and how much is their machines. Reaver will give me the answer… and I'll finally face a worthy opponent."

It was something she'd craved for a long time, controlled though that craving was by discipline. Her training had long since grown dull, as had even bouts with her hand-picked team of specially trained killers. No opponent had seriously challenged her on the field of battle before… yet today, perhaps, she would find her ideal foe.

Reputedly, the triumvirate of the Demon Lord, the White Knight, and the Red Knight was nigh unbeatable, with only Coordinators and "enhanced" Naturals even staying within shouting distance. And to be sure, the fact that they were still alive and the vast majority of their foes were not lent credence to that idea.

Karen Willet and her Frighteners intended to shatter that idea to pieces.

"_Third CTAT, this is the captain,"_ Vadislav Stiles said over the radio. _"It's time; you're cleared to launch."_ Even through the speakers, Willet could hear the feral smile implicit in his voice. _"Frighten them to death for us, will you?"_

"My pleasure, Captain," she replied, and sealed her visor. "All right. Karen Willet, Reaver, launching!"

The black machine rocketed out into the sky under the impetus of the electromagnetic slingshot, and spread its wings as it began its long-awaited hunt…

* * *

Indian Ocean, Dead Zone

* * *

ZGMF-X00A Preybird hurtled across the sky toward _Kyriotite,_ unease in its pilot's heart. For the first time in three years, Ken DiFalco was faced with a battle where the odds were terribly against him… and those he was sworn to protect.

The so-called Demon Lord knew again a fear he'd not experienced since the Second Battle of Jachin Due.

_Remember, Falcon,_ he told himself, boosting to one side to allow an errant energy barrage from _Thor_ scorch harmlessly past, _this isn't the same as back then. The fate of the entire world no longer rests on your shoulders; you need worry only about your friends and comrades._

_And this time… you're not alone. Those same friends are fighting just as hard -and just as well- as you are._

Closing his eyes for a bare instant behind his narrow visor, Ken nodded to himself, sharply, and then threw Preybird back in a punishing braking maneuver as one of the new machines he'd come to investigate suddenly appeared before him.

"What in space-?"

The strange machine didn't communicate, didn't indulge in any of the anti-Coordinator insults Ken recalled Dagger pilots oft-using during the War. Instead, its right arm simply snapped up, the blade attached to the strange shield assembly on the forearm whipped into position, and the enemy slashed viciously.

_Whoa!_ The slice seemed to cut the very air itself, its swiftness enough to catch even the veteran ace off guard, and it bit deeply into his maser rifle's barrel before he could compensate. Displaying an incredibly keen edge in addition to brutal swiftness, the switchblade cleaved through outer casing and inner circuitry alike, sending fully half the maser's barrel twirling off into the darkness.

Without even a pause, the new machine twisted its wrist, and launched another lightning-fast cut, aiming to bisect Preybird with one, clean blow.

Sheer reflexes and not a little luck saved Ken's life. In the instant it took the stranger to move into the next blow, he released the rifle's remains -reflecting inconsequentially that he never seemed able to _use_ the thing for very long- and yanked out his Gerbera, interposing it a bare three meters from his cockpit.

The flash along his blade's edge told him just how lucky he was; the Gerbera's barebones sensors had activated its VPS in reaction to another's phase-shift armor… meaning that if he hadn't blocked the strike, he would've been dead in very short order.

For a few, precious moments, the two machines held the clash, and Ken had -barely- time to examine his opponent. It was clearly a descendent of the Dagger series, visible in details such as a visor-style optical system and what were clearly hardpoints for extra weapons, yet it was also unique unto itself. It bore a pair of wing binders, separated into three wings each, a system bearing far too close a resemblance to those of Preybird and Freedom to be coincidence. The shield-blade combination was also a departure -with the PSA feature showing the Earth Forces had learned a few tricks from their enemies- and the railguns visible amide the wings were another ominous similarity to other units.

The machine's matte-black paint was enough to tell Ken that the machine belonged to the same unit he'd fought outside Armory One and during Break The World… yet he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the _pilot_ was something very, very different.

"You're good," he said, breaking radio silence when the enemy did not. "But… you're no Natural, are you?"

"Au contraire," the other replied, speaking at last, with a pronounced French accent. "I am, indeed, a Natural, Demon Lord… and yet, I am not. I am Nosferatu. Remember that name as you freeze in the Ninth Circle, Butcher Bird." Abruptly boosting back and away from the clash, the self-proclaimed "Nosferatu" raised his blade again. "In Nosferatu, you will meet your own equal… and in the 509, your Preybird will meet its own nemesis!"

Ken tensed, readying himself to take the blow he knew was coming. _Watch the angle of his strike,_ he told himself, falling back on his Master's lessons. _Even in mobile suit combat, some truths remained. Concentrate, and counter…_

Relying on the trained instincts born of nearly fifteen years studying the art of the blade, Ken waited for the moment the blow would come… a moment that never came.

At the instant the Nosferatu started his charge, another shape blurred into existence between him and his opponent, moving with a speed even beyond the stranger's machine. Like a piece of the night itself taken wing, it placed itself directly between the two combatants.

And Ken heard again a voice he'd heard only once before, but could never forget.

"Find yourself other prey, Bernadotte," the Englishwoman said coolly. "This is a battle I've long awaited… and I stand a better chance than even a 'Nosferatu', even one in a Katana."

There was a pause that seemed, to Ken, to be rather sullen, and then the "Katana" lowered its blade. "Don't expect me to yield next time, Willet," Bernadotte said quietly. "The Letzte Bataillon has its pride, too."

"I'm sure." Willet's contempt was thinly concealed, a fact which did not escape Ken. "At any rate, go bleed the Strike, perhaps; that should be a satisfactory victim."

"Hah." Despite the acrimony, however, the Katana turned, fired its thrusters, and rushed off into the night, leaving Ken able to devote his full attention to the newcomer.

And when he gazed at it fully, his breath caught in his throat, and his mechanical heart seemed to skip a beat.

_All black, with a sheathed sword on one hip, kept where another machine would've clipped a Lupus beam rifle… and ten wings, arranged in pairs of five, stretching out from its back…_

_Before his mind's eye, Ken saw a face framed by black hair, one of its blue eyes closed, a scar running down where it once was… a face that resembled a black-haired Rau Le Creuset, and one taut with near-constant pain…_

"No…" Ken breathed. "I thought it was beyond repair, after that incident. That's…"

"Surprised, Demon Lord?" Willet said, clearly amused. "You were careless, you know. You recovered Huckebein's body, but left his mobile suit behind. Did you think we'd gain nothing at all from it, once we found it? Did you think it couldn't be repaired… or upgraded?" She barked out a brief, harsh laugh. "I'd heard your skill sometimes betrayed you into overconfidence, Demon Lord, and now I see it for myself!"

He swallowed, fighting back the memories of the day when he'd first seen that mobile suit… memories of pain, and painful revelation, and the death of a man he'd once considered not simply a protégé, but one of his closest friends. "You rebuilt it… Victor's machine…"

"Yes." Willet smiled. "And now, Demon Lord… have at you!"

Ken's blade arced up, his enemy's flashed out with a longsword of blue-shot black, and Preybird and a machine once called Freedom Mark II clashed blades in a flash of steel…

* * *

Author's note:

* * *

After weeks of repair, _Archangel_ and _Minerva_ have finally moved out again, joining together in their efforts to stop the Earth Alliance in its tracks and end the war before it can once again escalate to cataclysmic proportions. Their destination, along with the vessels escorting them, is a frontline engagement in the Middle East… yet even as they move, the Earth Alliance, weary of the "Indestructible _Archangel"_ and her new ally, finally bring their own full might to bear, in a trap more dangerous than any they have ever faced…

Amid it all, one man schemes, another learns more of the art of war from a veteran, and one soul seeks the path of redemption… or self-destruction…

Hey, guys. Nope, I'm not dead after all; just had a boatload of internet troubles, and a job I hate with a passion approaching firestorm level. I'm deeply sorry this chapter is seven months late, and I'll at least try not to let it take so long again… but I'm afraid I can't make any promises at this point, with my schedule as hectic as it is.

One final note, by the way: it's come to my attention that flamers have begun using my work as a sort of "gold-standard", or at least as a reference as to how a story "should" be written. Now, I like it when people agree with my opinions on things, and it's true that I think the Earth Alliance happens to be the bad guys, and ZAFT the good guys, with not much equivocation possible (in my view). However: that does _not_ mean I think everyone who _doesn't_ share that view is an idiot. I may disagree with them, but if they disagree with me, and choose to write that way, that's their choice.

So please, people: if you're going to flame someone, you might want to keep in mind that one of the guys you're citing thinks _you're_ being the idiots, for flaming in the first place. Oh, and to the anti-Flay flamers… she is _alive_ in this story, okay?

Anyway. Rant over; once again, I apologize for the huge delay, and also for any deficiencies in quality here. I did my best, but I must admit spreading it out over the course of so many months may have made things a bit disjointed, and my own mood swings may have dropped my usual quality some. Still, I hope it was at least somewhat decent. -Solid Shark


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